Structural Gender Inequality and Mental Health among Chinese Men and Women

Abstract

Little is known about the association between structural gender inequality and health in patriarchal China. This study employed a sample from the Chinese Women’s Social Status, consisting of 26,139 participants aged 18 and 70 years (13,494 women and 12,645 men). Structural gender inequality was assessed at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. Mental health was measured by the summed scores of eight questions on depressive symptoms. Multilevel linear regression was applied for analysis. Results showed that total sex ratio at birth was associated with poorer mental health among women and men but sex ratio at birth of the second-born child predicted better mental health. Gender inequality at meso-level resulted in poorer mental health and gender inequality at microlevel was associated with poorer mental health both for men and women. Eliminating structural gender inequality promotes populations’ mental health in China.