The economic recession may have hit the mental health of men much harder than women, researchers reveal today.
Although job losses are said to have hit women harder – because they dominate the public sector – researchers say men may find it tougher to deal with the fear of unemployment.
The devastating effect of recession on many men led to rates of male mental ill health passing those of women for the first time in 20 years, researchers said.
The study in BMJ Open finds 16.6% of men reporting mental ill health in 2009 compared with 11.3% at the start of the recession in 2008. Among women it rose from 16 to 16.2%.
The researchers say more women may have been affected in subsequent years because of the public sector cuts. But evidence from earlier recessions also showed men’s mental health plunging.
Researcher Dr Srinivasa Vittal Katikrireddi, of the Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK, said the findings had "important implications."
He said: "One potential explanation for our results would be that job insecurity during the current recession is responsible for the deterioration in mental health, with men’s psychological health remaining more affected by economic fluctuations despite greater female labour market participation."
* A second study today, reported in The Lancet, finds people with depression reporting high levels of discrimination.
Professor Graham Thornicroft at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, led a team that questioned more than 1,000 people in 35 countries.
Some 71% said they sought to conceal their problems from other people while some 34% said they had been avoided or shunned by others because of their problems.
Professor Thornicroft said today: "Our findings show that discrimination related to depression is widespread, and almost certainly acts as a barrier to an active social life and having a fair chance to get and keep a job for people with depression."
Trends in population mental health before and after the 2008 recession: a repeat cross-sectional analysis of the 1991-2010 Health Surveys of England BMJ Open October 18 2012 doi 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001790
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