Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health | Harvard Magazine

Full Document

Highlights

Since 1979, most men’s real wages have fallen, while most women’s have risen, and an increasing share of “prime-age men”—those between ages 25 and 54—has given up looking for work. Men die “deaths of despair” from suicide, drugs, or alcohol at nearly three times the rate of women. And often, those hit hardest by these trends are working-class, men of color, or both. (via) ^rwhi912133050

since the middle of the last century, as women’s rights have advanced rapidly and the economy has shifted toward automation and globalization, many men have struggled to adapt to changing labor markets and educational settings—yet far fewer resources are directed toward addressing those challenges. (via) ^rwhi912133060

The costs extend far beyond lost paychecks, Glaeser says, because “for men, the correlation between life satisfaction and not working is just enormous.” For those aged 25 to 54, not having a job strongly predicts unhappiness, suicide, divorce, and opioid use—more than it does for unemployed women, or even men in low-wage jobs. (via) ^rwhi912133129

how childhood poverty and neighborhood disadvantage profoundly shape adult outcomes—with boys appearing especially vulnerable to these effects. “Boys growing up are super sensitive to their environments,” Suter says, “and that may explain different outcomes in adulthood.” (via) ^rwhi912133176

But research suggests that boys are more sensitive to their environments even in early childhood, with disadvantaged neighborhoods seeming to harm their kindergarten readiness more than girls’. “There’s just not a lot of good evidence for what explains this trend,” Suter says, but understanding it is key to designing early-childhood interventions to support boys. (via) ^rwhi912133227

male role models might play a significant role in shaping boys’ trajectories—whether as fathers, teachers, coaches, or others. (via) ^rwhi912133270

Like many boys, they sometimes struggled to sit still and appeared less focused than their female classmates. But instead of seeing that disengagement as a cue to teach differently, their teachers interpreted it as defiance and a lack of discipline. And the more these boys heard that narrative about themselves, the more likely they were to believe it. (via) ^rwhi912133349

while boys form emotionally intimate friendships in childhood, those bonds weaken as they get older—not because they lose the need for close connections, but because they’re told masculinity means dominance, stoicism, and independence. Losing those relationships has staggering lifetime costs. A 2023 report from the organization Equimundo found that two-thirds of men believed that “no one really knows [them]”; in a 2021 survey, one in seven men said they had no close friends. Such social isolation increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. It also partly explains why men’s suicide rate is four times that of women, says Pierce professor of psychology Matthew Nock. “Men are less likely to reach out for care, less well connected to others, and more likely to use more lethal means for suicide attempts,” he explains. (via) ^rwhi912133361