Abstract for: Employment trends, population mental health and gender differences

Scotland has seen a rising prevalence of depressive symptoms and persistently higher levels among women. Employment is a social determinant known to impact mental health. Unemployment, underemployment and precarious employment are evidently associated with poorer mental health. At the same time, those with poor mental health have a greater probability of leaving the labour market, becoming unemployed or working in jobs with lower job security. Traditional epidemiological methods often fall short to account for these bidirectional relationships while estimating the impact of policies, leading to understated or overstated effects. The project aims to develop a system dynamics model of the dynamic and gendered relationship between employment and mental health among working-age adults in Scotland to examine how employment trends have contributed to the increasing prevalence of poor mental health and the persistent gender inequality in mental health.