Gender Socialization: Differences between Male and Female Youth in India and Associations with Mental Health

Table 1

Sociodemographic characteristics of Indian youth by gender (“Youth in India: Situation and Needs Study,” 2006–08 (𝑁=44769)).

Characteristic	Female	Male
Age
15–19	52.5	53.2
20–24	47.5	46.8***
Place of residence
Rural	70.5	69.7
Urban	29.5	30.3***
Region
South	36.0	33.0
West	30.2	32.4
North	33.8	34.6***
Religion
Hindu	83.4	85.3
Muslim	10.0	10.0
Other	6.6	4.7***
Caste
General caste	21.3	21.4
Scheduled caste	20.5	19.7
Scheduled tribe	7.0	9.3
Other backward castes	50.4	48.8
Not known	0.8	0.8***
Marital status
Single/never married	46.1	80.1
Married, living with spouse	47.2	17.5
Married, not living with spouse	5.0	0.9
Married, no gauna	1.7	1.5***
Work status
Paid only	24.0	53.9
Unpaid only	9.7	7.3
Both paid and unpaid	6.1	6.2
Neither paid nor unpaid	60.2	32.6***
Years of schooling
<5 years	32.0	14.3
5–9 years	37.8	43.5
10–12 years	21.9	31.1
>12 years	8.3	11.1***
Family type
Nuclear	46.9	51.4
Nonnuclear	53.1	48.6***
Wealth quintile
Quintile 1 (poorest)	16.5	12.2
Quintile 2	18.3	18.8
Quintile 3	20.7	20.9
Quintile 4	22.3	25.0
Quintile 5 (wealthiest)	22.2	23.1***
Mean (SD) mental health problems	1.02 (1.82)	1.01 (1.60)
𝑁	30704	14065

Note: ***𝑃<.001.