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Over the past two decades, psychological distress has risen among teens worldwide, particularly in adolescent girls. A recent study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry reveals that the gap in mental health between boys and girls has paradoxically widened more in countries with higher levels of gender equality. Researchers linked this widening divide to an increase in academic pressure and a dual burden of expectations placed on young women.
Adolescence is a sensitive period of brain development and social growth. Mental health struggles that begin during these formative years often persist into adulthood. Across the globe, mental health indicators for teens have been declining since the early 2000s. Girls tend to report higher rates of what psychologists call internalizing symptoms. These encompass subjective experiences like feelings of intense sadness, irritability, nervousness, and sleep disruption.
The disparity in symptom prevalence between boys and girls is known as the gender gap in mental health. Sociologists and public health experts have sought to understand why the size of this gap varies so much from one country to another. Cultural context plays a major role in how adolescents experience stress. National policies and social attitudes create the environment in which teenagers shape their identities and gauge their self-worth.
Some theories proposed that greater national gender equality would protect girls. In this view, equal societies reduce discrimination and loosen restrictive gender norms, leading to better well-being for young women. Other theoretical frameworks suggested that living in progressive societies might inadvertently create an exhausting dual expectation. In this scenario, girls are pressured to excel academically and professionally while still facing traditional demands regarding emotional availability and physical appearance.
Lead researcher Margreet E. de Looze of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and her colleagues wanted to investigate these competing ideas. The research team included academics from across Europe, Canada, and Israel. They sought to determine if the mental health gap grew faster in more equal societies over time. They also wanted to know whether changes in specific daily stressors could explain the worsening trends.
To answer these questions, the research team analyzed data from a large international survey called the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. This effort included responses from more than 1.2 million adolescents aged eleven to fifteen across forty-three countries. Surveys were administered in classrooms every four years between 2002 and 2022. The team measured how often students experienced symptoms of distress over a six-month period.
The team paired the student survey results with the United Nations Gender Inequality Index. This index ranks countries based on factors like reproductive health, women’s empowerment, and participation in the labor market. The researchers accounted for national wealth so economic differences would not skew the results. They also tracked students’ self-reported feelings of schoolwork pressure, body dissatisfaction, and perceived support from classmates.
The survey data showed that psychological symptoms increased for both boys and girls worldwide over the twenty-year period. However, the mental health divide between the sexes grew much faster in nations with high gender equality. In 2002, girls in more equal countries reported lower symptom levels than their peers in less equal nations. By 2022, that advantage had completely disappeared.
To understand why this shift occurred, the researchers looked at the specific educational and social pressures the students faced. They discovered that schoolwork pressure intensified for girls at a much higher rate in countries with strong gender equality. While boys also reported more academic stress, the increase for them was less pronounced. Over the same two decades, the sense of social support from classmates declined more sharply for girls in highly equal nations.
The researchers suggest that the steep rise in academic pressure for adolescent girls partly explains the widening gap in psychological symptoms. In the early 2000s, young women may have benefited from the optimism and expanded opportunities that came with structural gender equality. Over time, that initial boost may have been replaced by the realities of intense competition and perfectionism. Girls today might feel an overwhelming pressure to succeed in every area of life without making mistakes.
The association between gender equality and worsening mental health for girls does not imply that progressive policies are harmful. The authors emphasize that the results highlight how societies may have only achieved partial equality. Young women are still navigating modern academic demands alongside lingering traditional ideals. Young people today may also be highly aware of the ongoing discrimination women face, leading to frustration with the slow pace of cultural change.
Another potential explanation involves broader societal trends that parallel the push for equality. Between 2002 and 2022, many progressive countries have become increasingly competitive and individualistic. Digital media use has also skyrocketed during this timeframe. Adolescents might feel increasingly solely responsible for their own failures in environments that prize individual academic and professional achievement above community well-being.
The study relies on observational data, meaning the researchers cannot prove that gender equality directly dictates mental health outcomes. Societal shifts that often accompany gender equality in wealthy nations could be acting as hidden variables. For example, countries highly ranked for gender equality might also place more cultural emphasis on individual meritocracy. Due to limited data availability across all the represented countries, the researchers could not measure these elements directly.
The scope of the survey also involved several other limitations. The survey’s measure of body dissatisfaction was limited to feelings about being too fat or too thin. This narrow definition may not capture the muscularity dietary concerns that are increasingly prominent among adolescent boys. The data collection also relied on a basic binary measure of gender. This approach does not reflect the experiences of gender nonconforming youth or adolescents whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.
The demographic data also lacked variables related to race and ethnicity. Minority status relates closely to psychological well-being, especially considering the intense social and health challenges of the recent pandemic years. Incorporating more diverse demographic information could provide a much clearer picture of who is suffering the most under these societal pressures.
Future research should explore how modern cultural pressures affect specific communities. By identifying the exact sources of stress for young women, policymakers and school administrators might design better support systems for adolescent well-being. The findings suggest that true gender equality requires a culture where the burdens and expectations of daily life are genuinely shared. Providing equal opportunities in education and the workplace is only the first step in protecting young minds.
The study, “Exploring mechanisms behind the increasing gender gap in adolescent psychological symptoms, 2002–2022: the role of national-level gender equality,” was authored by Margreet E. de Looze, Alina Cosma, Frank J. Elgar, Karen Schrijvers, Jo Inchley, Sophie D. Walsh, and Gonneke W. J. M. Stevens.
