Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic by Gender in South Korea: Links to Job Loss and Childcare

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinically diagnosed depression in South Korea, focusing on gender disparities and structural risk factors such as job loss and childcare burden. Although mental health inequalities have received growing attention during the pandemic, most existing research relies on self-reported survey data with inherent limitations. To address this gap, we utilized administrative health data from a 2% stratified random sample of the total population (N = 297,368) in the National Health Insurance Database, focusing on employed individuals without a prior history of depression. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression revealed that women had higher risks of depression than men, particularly among those in their 20s to 40s, those who experienced job loss, those who had children aged 7–9, and those who belonged to high-income groups. These findings suggest that the intersection of employment instability and caregiving responsibilities disproportionately affected women’s mental health during the pandemic. The results underscore the urgent need for gender-sensitive public health policies that expand childcare support, institutionalize flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, and enhance access to targeted mental health services to reduce pandemic-induced gender disparities in mental health.