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Females were more likely to have mental health conditions, while behavioral health conditions were more prevalent among males.
Consistent with previous America’s Health Rankings reports, notable disparities in mental health measures (e.g., depression diagnosis, anxiety diagnosis and suicidal thoughts) and behavioral health measures (e.g., illicit drug use, marijuana use and substance use disorder) existed by gender. Mental health challenges tended to be more prevalent among females, while males had higher rates of behavioral health challenges. This is consistent with literature where females have higher rates of anxiety and depression, as well as of multiple mood disorders, compared to males.14 The rate of diagnosed depression was 1.8 times higher for adult females compared to males (26.4% vs. 14.4%). Additionally, adult females reported a 1.5 times higher rate of frequent mental distress compared to males (17.7% vs. 11.8%), and adult and youth females were 1.6 and 2.5 times more likely to report symptoms indicative of a major depressive episode in the past year (10.2% vs. 6.4% and 28.9% vs. 11.4%, respectively).