An intersectional exploration of young people?s mental health inequalities

Health inequalities in the UK are stark and increasing. They are among the greatest challenges of our time. The Covid-19 pandemic illuminated and exacerbated those inequalities, with young people being disproportionately impacted, particularly in terms of mental health. We can expect ongoing consequences of the pandemic for health inequalities to be through political and economic pathways, presenting a bleak outlook for marginalised young people. Intersectionality, the idea that multiple axes of inequality (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation) are cross-cutting and mutually constituted, is critical for how we understand and attempt to address young people’s health inequalities. Intersectionality identifies who is at particular risk, how social processes and contexts shape that risk, and how we can design policies to mitigate against it. Despite increasing interest and methodological advancements, intersectionality has scarcely been applied in public health research. This research employs intersectionality to analyse and understand inequalities in young people’s mental health. Mixed methods, co-production and policy knowledge-exchange are at the heart of this research. Through embracing social theory, participation from young people, creative qualitative methods and advanced multi-level modelling, this research will produce a nuanced picture of mental health inequalities in young people and directly inform strategies to tackle them.