Unlocking the potential of intersectionality for reducing adolescent mental health inequalities: a mixed methods and theoretically grounded approach

This fellowship investigates issues critical for equitable improvement of young people’s mental health. 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 inequalities, with young people disproportionately impacted, especially in terms of mental health. Calls for a shift in research and action on inequalities have been building. Intersectionality, the idea that multiple axes of inequality (e.g., gender, ethnicity, deprivation) are cross-cutting and mutually constituted, is a potentially transformative framework for capturing the complexity intrinsic to health inequalities. Intersectionality identifies who is at particular risk, how social processes and contexts shape that risk, and how we design policies to mitigate against it. Despite increasing interest and methodological advancements, intersectionality has scarcely been applied in public health. This research employs intersectionality as a critical theoretical and applied framework to analyse and address 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, young people’s involvement, creative qualitative methods and advanced multilevel modelling, this research will produce a nuanced picture of mental health inequalities amongst UK young people and directly inform strategies to tackle them.