Navigating (gendered) social worlds - A qualitative exploration of Canadian young people’s social relationships and mental health

Aug 23, 2026

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Qualitative research explores how Canadian youth navigate social relationships through gendered patterns and how these dynamics shape mental health experiences. Twenty participants aged 11–17 took part in virtual, individual semi-structured interviews. Findings show social relationships are consistently important, while gender influences remain strong, persistent, and often implicit in youth descriptions of gender, interaction behaviors, and conflict management. Girls report dissatisfaction with gendered stereotypes, expectations, and norms perceived among boys and non-binary peers, highlighting disadvantages across youth and informing calls for adult duty bearers to support healthier socialization.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

Mental health and social relationships

Funding and competing interests

OPEN ACCESS Citation: Wadge S, Steeves V, Pilato KA, Michaelson V (2024) Navigating (gendered) social worlds: A qualitative exploration of Canadian young people’s social relationships and mental health. PLOS Ment Health 1(6): e0000113 . [https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/)[ ](https://doi.org/)[10.1371/journal.pmen.0000113](10.1371/journal.pmen.0000113) Editor: Marc Eric Santos Reyes, University of Santo Tomas College of Science, PHILIPPINES Received: May 10, 2024 Accepted: August 1, 2024 Published: November 13, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Wadge et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: Our qualitative data set is not available for sharing publicly because we do not have ethical approval to share beyond our immediate research team. The Research Ethics Boards who have imposed this restriction are: Brock University Health Sciences Research Ethics Board (contact: [reb@brocku.ca](reb@brocku.ca)); the Queen’s University Health Sciences & Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Research Ethics Board (contact: [HSREB@queensu.ca](HSREB@queensu.ca)) and University of Ottawa Office of Research Ethics and Integrity (contact: [ethics@uottawa.ca](ethics@uottawa.ca)) . RESEARCH ARTICLE Navigating (gendered) social worlds: A qualitative exploration of Canadian young people’s social relationships and mental health Stephanie Wadge1, Valerie Steeves2, Kelly A. Pilato1, Valerie Michaelson1 * 1 Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 2 Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * [vmichaelson@brocku.ca](vmichaelson@brocku.ca) Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the gendered ways that youth in Canada are navigating their social relationships, and in turn, how this may be shaping their mental health experiences. Twenty young people between the ages of 11 and 17 (nine self-identified as girls, ten self-identified as boys, and one self-identified as non-binary) were recruited from across Canada and each participated in a virtual individual semi-structured interview. Social relationships were reported as highly important by all participants, and study findings illuminated the strong, persistent, and often implicit ways that these relationships are shaped by gender. This includes the ways that youth describe gender and social relationships influencing experiences and behaviours; how youth manage conflict; and the dissatisfaction that girls express regarding gendered stereotypes, expectations, and norms that they perceive their boy and non-binary peers to experience. Study findings provide context to understanding the gendered disparities that disadvantage all young people. Along with providing new evidence, this paper is a call to action to the adult duty bearers in society to lead changes in how young people are socialized so that they are better equipped to navigate relationships and conflict in positive and healthy ways. Introduction In Canada, one in five people will experience a mental health problem or illness [ 1] . Similar prevalence levels are reported among Canadian youth [ 1] . In Canada and globally, a perplexing element of this mental health landscape is a well document gender gap [2–8] . Appearing toemerge during adolescence [8, 9], those who identify as girls consistently report worse mental health than boys across a variety of mental health indicators [8, 10–12] . Research suggests that the increased salience placed on gender socialization and norms during adolescence contributes to these gendered disparities in mental health experiences and outcomes [ 13] . Yet, the root causes for this gender gap are not well understood. One contributing factor to gendered experiences and disparities in men

FAQs

What is the study’s main goal?

To explore gendered ways Canadian youth navigate social relationships and how these experiences may shape mental health.

How was the research conducted?

Twenty young people aged 11–17 participated in virtual, individual semi-structured interviews.

What key findings link gendered social relationships to mental health?

The study highlights persistent and often implicit gender influences on how youth describe relationships, manage conflict, and the dissatisfaction girls express regarding gendered stereotypes and norms.

Aug 23, 2026

Upload by Jacob