Gender Norms and Adolescent Health Interventions

Adolescence marks a critical transition during which socially constructed expectations of masculinity and femininity exert profound influence on health trajectories. Prevailing gender norms shape access to education, nutrition, mental health support and sexual and reproductive services, often reinforcing inequities. Interventions that engage adolescents in critical reflection on the roles, behaviours and power relations prescribed by their communities have demonstrated potential to foster more equitable attitudes and healthier outcomes. These initiatives span settings from schools and youth clubs to digital platforms and community forums, integrating life-skills training, peer mentorship and family engagement. Effective programmes not only address individual knowledge and behaviour but also seek to transform the broader social structures that uphold restrictive norms. Grounded in social-ecological frameworks, such approaches mobilise multiple stakeholders—including parents, teachers, health practitioners and local leaders—to create enabling environments for sustained change. As evidence accumulates, practitioners are refining strategies to tailor content by age, gender and cultural context, scaling interventions that combine participatory methods with rigorous evaluation to inform policy and practice on a global scale.

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Gender Norms and Adolescent Health Interventions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in gender norms and adolescent health interventions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Gender norms: Shared expectations about appropriate roles, behaviours and attributes for individuals based on their perceived gender.

Gender-transformative programming: Interventions that aim to challenge and change harmful gender norms and power imbalances rather than accommodate or exploit them.

Gender-based violence: Any harmful act directed at an individual based on gender norms, encompassing physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

References

1. How gender is socially constructed in policy making processes: a case study of the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy in South Africa. International Journal for Equity in Health (2023).
2. Social scripts of violence among adolescent girls and young women in Zambia: Exploring how gender norms and social expectations are activated in the aftermath of violence. Social Science & Medicine (2024).
3. Characteristics of successful programmes targeting gender inequality and restrictive gender norms for the health and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and young adults: a systematic review. The Lancet Global Health (2019).