Abstract
Mental health issues impose significant economic and social costs on contemporary societies. While various factors contribute to the rise in mental health issues, one critical yet often overlooked element is the role of gender norms, that can be gender-specific. Societal expectations frequently force men and women to conform to different, unrealistic behavioral standards, that in turn can exacerbate psychological distress: this study asks whether traditional gender norms differently affect men's and women's mental health. Our identification strategy draws from a recent literature that uses country-of-ancestry variation to identify the effect of culture on behavioral outcomes for second-generation immigrants. We analyze data from the 2012 European Social Survey, which includes a dedicated mental health module and information on the respondents' parents' country of birth. We find that individuals coming from countries with stricter gender norms have lower mental health scores, with the effect being driven mainly by men. When looking at the mechanisms, our evidence suggests that the effect might be related to parenting styles and the internalization of gender role models.