Bridging Divides
Project overview
Our team — made up of social scientists, biologists, and young people from the UK and Japan — is trying to understand the causes behind girls’ and women’s higher risk for anxiety and depression.
Today, we know that hormonal changes and experiences of sexism are both linked to mental health issues, but we don’t fully understand how these factors interact over time.
Together with young people, we will be working on three big parts of the project:
In the first stage, we will interview girls and young women to understand how sexism and body changes (like puberty and periods) are experienced, and how they potentially affect mental health – and together we will design new ways to measure and track these experiences.
In the second stage, we will build on data from existing large studies of young people’s health and brain development to uncover hidden patterns and causes.
In the final stage, we will use cutting-edge technology — wearable devices, hormone tracking, and real-time surveys — to understand how daily stress, body changes and social pressures interact over time to affect mental health.
Girls’ experiences with sexism and mental health can vary in different parts of the world. By carrying out this research in both the UK and Japan, we hope to gain richer insights that one country alone could not provide.
This project is funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Find out more about the project in the proposal video:
Project details
We believe the burden of anxiety and depression in girls and young women is preventable.
By working across disciplines, we hope to generate vital knowledge and actionable ideas to transform how the society responds to the rising mental health challenges facing girls and women.
Young people co-wrote the proposal for this project, and will be involved throughout. This includes:
- Young people will co-lead the research and co-author outputs.
- Young co-researchers will conduct the interviews and co-analyse the data with peer researchers at McPin.
- Youth advisory groups are involved at both London and Tokyo sites, advising the team regularly.
- A community coproduction team consisting of young people, parents and teachers will be steering the research, given the sensitive information to be collected.
Please get in touch with [email protected] for more information on this project.
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