Girls Get A Lot More Anxious Than Boys

Picture from Motherwellmag

In a first of its kind study, Prof Setoh and colleagues from Nanyang Technological University found that girls are a lot more anxious than boys. This happens between the ages of 8.5 and 13 years when they go through a sharp spike in social anxiety. They fear being judged negatively in social situations.

By the time they turn 13, their social anxiety levels are significantly higher than boys. If untreated, this may lead to poor mental health and interpersonal relationships. Academic and work performance later in life may be affected as well.

The article was just published on 300825 in the Research On Child And Adolescent Psychopathology. The Straits Times also published an article on it on 010925.

ST 010725

You must be wondering why I chose this topic this week, or wondering about my credentials on adolescent mental health. 

Just after I came across the newspaper article, I remembered a recent study by Lundgren et al  (2025) on how physical activity during certain periods can protect children from developing depression, anxiety and addiction. Their study was based on a large group of Swedish children followed from birth until their 18th birthdays. The long time frame allowed comparison between parent-rated levels of activity to diagnoses from a national registry. This is to eliminate pre existing issues that caused low activity levels or transient dips that were interpreted as social anxiety issues.

The study involved 17,055 children, who were born between 1997-1999. The parents had to rate various aspects of their child's health at 5, 8 and 11 years. Activity levels were tracked separately for school days and non school days. Participation in organized sports were tracked at 11 years and reported in hours per week.

The authors found that physical activity (reported by parents) declined from 4.2 to 2.5 hours each day between 5 and 11 years of age. Analyses showed that boys and girls had different outcomes and patterns. 

Time outdoors showed no protective associations while participation in organized sports at 11 years of age showed significant protective effects on anxiety and addiction for both boys and girls and on depression for boys. The authors concluded that his study provides evidence that physical activity and participation in organized sports may have protective effects against several adolescent mental health diseases.

Possibly policymakers working to control vaping in Singapore could use this information?

Access to the articles at the links below.

References

Lundgren O, Tigerstrand H, Lebena A et al (2025)Impact Of Physical Activity On The Incidence Of Psychiatric Conditions During Childhood: A longitudinal Swedish Birth Cohort Study. BJSM. 1:59(14): 1001-1009. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2024-108148

Tng GY, Law ECChen HY et al (2025). Developmental Trajectories Of AnxietySubtypes From ChildTo Early Adolescence: The Role Of Parenting practices And Maternal Distress. Res Ch Adoles Pysch. DOI: 10.1007/s10802-025-01364-4