COVID-19 and gender differences in mental health in low- and middle-income countries: Young working women are more vulnerable

Abstract

This study examines gender differences in the relationship between COVID-19-triggered economic hardship and mental health complaints, defined by self-reported anxiety/depression, of young people (17–29) in four low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To do this, we use two waves of the Young Lives (YL) phone survey. Logistic regression results show that young women, on average, were more likely to report anxiety than men in Peru and Vietnam in the first survey wave (June–July 2020). However, this disparity continued to persist in all four countries in the second wave (August–October 2020) as the pandemic prolonged. Notably, we find that young women that faced economic hardship by losing job or income were more likely to report anxiety than their male counterparts. As COVID-19 cases remain consistently high in many LMICs, which limit economic activities, the vulnerability of young women may likely increase. This issue requires urgent policy attention by awareness-raising campaigns, more hotline services for emergency help, social security programs for women, and available women's sexual and reproductive health services at a specific section in hospitals.