Gender Inequalities in Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms among Young People in London and Tokyo: a Longitudinal Cross-Cohort Study

ABSTRACTBackgroundResearch suggests gender inequalities in adolescent mental health are context dependent. This implies they may be preventable through social/structural change. However, there is also some evidence that gender mental health gaps arelargerin ostensibly more gender equal societies, e.g., 2-3-fold larger in the UK vs. Japan. Using data and methods that overcome important limitations of existing evidence, we tested the hypothesis that gender inequalities in depressive symptom trajectories are larger in London than in Tokyo, and that these differences are not due to incomparable measurement.MethodsWe used three waves of data from representative adolescent cohorts in Tokyo (TTC;n=2,813) and London (REACH;n=4,287) (n=7,100; age 11-16y). We used multigroup and longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis to examine measurement invariance of the 13-item Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) across cohorts, genders, and ages. Latent growth models compared depressive symptom trajectories of boys and girls in London and Tokyo.OutcomesScalar invariance was well-supported. In London, gender inequalities in depressive symptoms were evident at age 11y (girls: +0·8 [95% CI: 0·3-1·2]); in Tokyo, the difference emerged between 11-14y. In both places, the disparity widened year-on-year, but by age 16y was around twice as large in London. Annual rate of increase in depressive symptoms was around four times steeper among girls in London (1·1 [0·9-1·3]) vs. girls in Tokyo (0·3 [0·2-0·4]).InterpretationGender inequalities in emotional health are context dependent and may be preventable through social/structural change.FundingJapanese Society for the Promotion of Science; Economic and Social Research Council.RESEARCH IN CONTEXTEvidence before this studyWomen are around two-to-four times more likely than men to experience emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. Our understanding of the causes is surprisingly limited. Typically, these gender inequalities in emotional health emerge in early adolescence, at around the age of puberty, so much research has focussed on biological explanations. However, a growing body of evidence suggests gender inequalities in adolescent mental health may be context dependent, varying in size – and sometimes direction – across countries. This implies it may be possible to prevent the excess of mental distress among teenage girls through social/structural change. However, there is also some evidence to suggest that gender inequalities in teenage mental health arelarger, on average, in countries with higher levels of societal gender equity, e.g., around 2-3 times larger in the UK (which ranks 15thon global gender equity) compared with Japan (ranked 125th). Reasons for this seemingly paradoxical trend are unclear. However, there are important limitations to the international evidence that preclude robust inference about the contexts and conditions that give rise to (and those that mitigate and prevent) gender inequalities in emotional health. It is mostly cross-sectional, relates to older age groups, or – importantly – fails or is unable to robustly examine measurement invariance between countries.We reviewed the reference lists in two successive reviews (published in 2000 and 2017) on the causes of gender inequalities in depression and searched PubMed for original and review articles published as of January 2023. Search terms included: gender inequalities (sex/gender differences, inequalities, disparities, etc.) AND mental health (mental distress, depression, depressive symptoms, etc.) AND young people (child*, adolesc*, youth, etc.) AND international comparisons (international comparisons, cross-cohort, cross-cultural, etc.). We screened titles and abstracts to identify studies with longitudinal data on mental health in population-based adolescent samples. We found: one cross-sectional study reporting gender inequalities in mental distress and wellbeing at age 15 years in 73 countries, with measurement invariance considered at the regional level (e.g., Americas, Eastern Mediterranean); one cross-sectional study of all age groups (except children under 12) in 90 countries, with no examination of measurement invariance; and four longitudinal studies comparing gender inequalities in mental health across countries in mid-adolescence, that either (a) used unrepresentative samples, (b) compared countries with very similar levels of societal gender equity, or (c) did not examine – or only partly supported – measurement invariance between countries.Added value of this studyWe used three waves of data from large, representative cohorts of young people in Tokyo and London and examined (a) the extent to which a widely used measure of depressive symptoms is invariant (comparable) across place, gender, and age, and (b) whether inequalities in depressive symptom trajectories between adolescent boys and girls are larger in London than in Tokyo. We found strong evidence that inequalities in depressive symptom trajectories between adolescent boys and girls are around twice as large, and may emerge earlier, among young people in London than in Tokyo. Notably, the annual rate of increase in depressive symptoms from age 11 to age 16 was around four times steeper among girls in London than among girls in Tokyo. Importantly, we found little evidence to suggest these differences are due to incomparable measurement. We co-wrote this paper with ten young people, five in London and five in Tokyo, and their perspectives are integrated throughout and presented in the Supplement.Implications of all the available evidenceThere is strong evidence that the size and course of gender inequalities in emotional health are driven by social/structural context. Against a backdrop of high and rising rates of emotional health problems among young women and girls in many countries, there is an urgent need to understand the contexts and conditions that enable young girls to thrive.