Barros, Pedro PitaOliveira, Mariana Quintal2023-08-022023-08-022023-01-132022-12-16http://hdl.handle.net/10362/156185Women report higher levels of depression and anxiety than men. This impacts their quality of life and promotes discrimination. Two reasons can explain the gender gap: either women are more vulnerable to risks or more exposed to them. Using data from a 2022 survey representative of the Portuguese population, the aim of this study is to test the vulnerability hypothesis. The results, from three ordered logistic models, show that women's mental health is not worse when exposed to the same risks than men. This indicates that tackling socioeconomic inequality can help closing the mental health gap – if exposure to appropriate income levels was equal, the probability of women reporting no suggestive symptoms would increase by 0.41 percentage points (from 4.15 p.p. to 4.56 p.p.).engMental healthGender gapInequalityVulnerabilityExposuremaster thesis203312201