Girls are biggest consumers of anxiolytic and sedative drugs among adolescents in most EU countries

MedicalXpress | июн 10, 2026

Xabi Martinez-Mendia, a researcher at the EHU-University of the Basque Country, has analyzed how adolescent psychotropic drug consumption is linked to gender inequality and economic factors in 32 European countries. Published in the European Journal of Public Health, the results indicate that overall consumption of psychotropic drugs is on the rise in countries with greater gender and economic parity, whereas in countries with lower parity, these drugs are consumed proportionally more by girls, and the gender gap is wider.