Higher depression rates in UK teen girls compared with Japan suggest societal problem - study

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By Emma Wilkinson

More work is needed to understand why there are higher rates of depression among teenage girls in the UK compared with boys, say researchers who have identified a very different pattern among young people in Japan.

After comparing data from thousands of 11-to-16-year-olds in London with a similar cohort in Tokyo, researchers at King’s College London concluded that a stark divide seen in depressive symptoms between boys and girls may relate to the society they grow up in.