Boys and young men have trouble. Through their lives – in their academic success, their mental health and their transitions in adulthood – there are warning signs that they are late, even though their peers are faced with the advance.
In the United States, researchers say that several economic and social changes have combined to change the trajectories of boys and men. The school has changed in a way that promotes girls, and work has changed in a way that promotes women. Boys are often considered as troublemakers, and men have heard that masculinity is “toxic”.
The young people themselves tend to agree that girls are now at least equal – and often do better than – boys. Many young men say they feel uncharted and undervalued, and parents and adults working with children are worried about boys. It is not only a feeling: there are a multitude of data that show that boys and young men stagnate. Below, I will explain what is some of this data.
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Some boys have been more affected than others – the results for black boys are worse, and grow up in poverty hurts boys disproportionately. And in some cases, the models are not new – boys have always lagged behind girls in certain areas, but there has been little concentration on their problems, perhaps because men have dominated in so many spheres.
It is starting to change, said Niobe Way, author of “Rebels with because: Reimagining Boys, ourselves and our culture” and professor of development psychology at Nyu “boys and young men, they are hungry like everyone else to be seen as they see themselves, like good people,” she said. “They not only want to survive but also have the opportunity to prosper.”
Here is an overview of certain ways in which boys and young men do not thrive.
Education
The school became more academic earlier, which may make more difficult for boys, who generally mature later than girls, say researchers. The boys enter the kindergarten behind the girls, both in their academic preparation and their behavior. Gender gaps persist while they move to school. In the United States, girls get reading tests better than boys. Girls win higher GPA. Boys are more likely to be suspended.
All this leads to a lower probability of secondary graduate in time for boys than girls – 83% for boys, against 89% for girls, according to to an analysis of the BrooKings institution.
Women are also more numerous than men in college inscriptions, which are linked to broader career prospects and higher income. Among recent high school graduates, around 57% are registered in college, barely up compared to 54% in 1960, Federal data show. During this same period, registrations for the college of women exceeded overrun – 66% are now registered, compared to 38%. (For both, registration is declining prepondemic summits.)
Boys also have strengths at school. During mathematics tests, they tend to surpass girls (especially American white and Asian boys in high income suburbs), and from the pandemic, the academic performance of boys have improved compared to girls. However, researchers say that there is something in modern school that does not allow boys to achieve their potential.
“In education, it's more a story of the acceleration of girls,” said Richard Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. “But there is enough evidence to think that the education system is not as suitable for boys as possible and should be.”
Mental health
Mental health has worsened for young people in general, and For boys In a different way than for girls. Among boys aged 3 to 17, 28% have a mental, emotional, behavioral or development problem, compared to 23% of girls, according to The health and adolescent health measurement initiative.
Boys are about twice as likely that girls diagnose with ADHD or autism, although experts warn that they can be underdiagnosed in girls, for which symptoms may appear differently.
Mental health has also been Decline for girlswhich are more likely that boys to have anxiety and depression. Researchers say that because boys are always faced with the expectation of being stoic, their difficulties appear more often in their behavior. Almost two -thirds of adolescents say that boys are more disruptive in class, while only 4% say that girls are, Pew Research Center find In a recent survey of adolescents. (Other behaviors, however, such as physical fighting and drug use, have decreased for boys.)
And although most adolescents, 84%, Tell to pew They have at least one friend on which they can rely for emotional support, that is not as much as the 95% of girls who say they do it.
Overall, suicide is more widespread in men than women and has increased in young people. But the increases are much greater for young men. In 2023, the suicide rate for men aged 15 to 24 was 21 per 100,000, against 11 in 1968, According to an analysis CDC data by the American Institute for Boys and Men. The suicide rate for young women was five per 100,000 against three.
“The data is clear that the men are not super healthy,” said Matt Englar-Carlson, professor and founder of Cal State Fullerton's Center for Boys and Men. “I do not know men of my age or less who do not know someone who died by suicide.”
Transition to adulthood
Although young people in general take more time to reach the traditional stages of adulthood, this is particularly true for young men.
Among men aged 25 to 34, 19% still live with their parents, against 14% in 1983, according to data census. Women who age, 13% live with their parents, against 11% four decades ago.
While women and men were also likely to be single – less than a third of these 25 to 54 years were in 1990 – now 39% of men and 36% of women do not have a partner, a PEW analysis of census data find (The discrepancy may be due to the fact that women often associate with older men, said Pew researchers.)
The work trajectories of men and women have also diverged because many jobs that men have mainly made, such as manual work, have disappeared in the United States, while women dominate work on today's service.
The share of men working or research in work has regularly dropped, while the share of women working quickly climbed. Of men aged 25 to 54, 89% are in the active population, against 94% in 1975. Women who age, 78% are in the active population, against 55% in 1975.
And while women earn even less than men, their weekly medial gains have climbed 19% Since 2000, while men have increased 7% in this period.
“The contemporary American economy does not reward many characteristics associated with men and masculinity,” said Robb Willer, professor of sociology at Stanford, “and the feeling is that these tendencies will continue.”
