- A new survey found 36% of American men struggle to understand their place in society.
- Three in 10 men don't feel they have someone to talk to about mental health challenges.
- Future research will delve into causes, possible policies and actions to help.
Most American men say they’re doing fine, in good health mentally and physically, happy with their jobs and enjoying their lives. However, a significant number say they’re floundering more than flourishing across one or more areas of life.
Just over a third (36%) report they are “struggling to understand my place in my community or in a broader society.” Half that many believe the things they do are “not very” or “not at all” worthwhile.
And on the mental health front, 3 in 10 say they don’t feel close enough to anyone to talk to them about mental health struggles; more than 1 in 5 believe acknowledging challenges even exist in that realm signals weakness.
And 31% say they don’t have a confidant with whom to have any difficult conversations, not just about mental health.
That’s all according to a new survey about men released Tuesday by Utah-based Sutherland Institute, a conservative public policy think tank. The survey asked men about their lives, attitudes, hopes and worries with a focus on health, vocation and sense of purpose.
“That’s not most men, but it’s a large enough subset of American men who are struggling across key domains of life to be worrisome,” Nic Dunn, Sutherland vice president of strategy and senior fellow, told Deseret News. He wrote the survey report.
He added, “Within those categories, it covers everything from work and education to reducing stigma around mental health challenges to increasing engagement in faith communities and family life, and then the free enterprise system more broadly.”
Understanding men’s issues
Dunn called the new survey a first step for the institute in understanding men’s issues from a research point of view so that public resources can be aligned to provide maximum opportunity for everyone. In a related vein, Sutherland has a weekly podcast called “Defending Ideas” and some of the guests have been people concerned about the ongoing welfare of men and boys, he added.
“We’re tracking on multiple fronts what looks like sort of this narrative of significant swaths of American men falling back from major civic institutions, whether it be work, whether it be family formation or faith communities. We want to try to understand what is going on and then dive deeper into why,” Dunn said.
For people to feel they’re living the American dream is multifaceted, including education, economic prospects, health including mental health and purpose, which touches on family and faith and engagement with civic institutions. They’re interrelated, said Dunn.
Sutherland research has shown a connection between strong families and the other positive outcomes for both individuals and for the state. “I think it would be a mistake to look at this issue solely through the lens of just the economics or just the workforce or just the mental health side,” he said. “We want men to be able to thrive in each of these categories.”
According to the report, “On any given metric, up to one-third of American men struggle in the domains identified in this survey. As such, policy and community leaders in Utah and across the nation should take seriously the call to further understand and address these components of modern life for men nationwide.”
While the survey chronicles the dissatisfaction of the subset of men, it doesn’t attempt to answer the why. That will be the next step, per Dunn. The report was released in June because it contains both Father’s Day and Men’s Health Month.
What the survey found
The report opens with some good news: “On average, American men report decent mental and physical health, general satisfaction with work, and a sense of purpose and fulfillment from engaging with a faith community and in family life. Most express general satisfaction or happiness with life as a whole.”
But it also finds “undercurrents that could point to problems often overlooked.” The patterns show that a “consistent and sizable minority of men seriously struggle in key domains of life, warranting further research and attention from policymakers and community leaders,” Dunn wrote.
Among other findings:
- On the work side, 18% of the men reported being dissatisfied to some degree with their work situation. Fifty-eight percent were at least somewhat satisfied, while 24% were equally satisfied and dissatisfied.
- While 15% do not see family life as a source of purpose and fulfillment and 17% are neutral, 69% do.
- Faith community does not provide purpose and fulfillment to 24%, which is the same share who don’t agree or disagree. But 52% to some extent do see their faith community serve that role.
- Further, on work, 17% do not see their work as meaningful and 15% do not view it as a “purposeful” part of life.
- Thirteen percent — more than 1 in 8 — report not being satisfied “with life as a whole these days and a similar 12% say they usually feel very or somewhat unhappy.
Perhaps the starkest data point, Dunn said, is the finding that 36% of American men say they are “struggling to understand my place in my community or in broader society.” That’s compared to 41% who disagree with the statement and 23% who don’t agree or disagree.
It’s not just about money
Economic prospects matter a lot, Dunn said, but they’re just one element of how most Americans would view the American dream.
Purpose is perhaps the most nebulous to define and measure, but also the one for which satisfaction is most important, Dunn said. He called it “pretty shocking” that more than a third of American men aren’t sure what their role is in life and what they’re supposed to be doing.
The institute is looking at workforce engagement and economic opportunities in several ways, though the work is preliminary. Sutherland is exploring the construction industry workforce shortage, for instance and having conversations around the value of apprenticeship for forging a financially and otherwise satisfying future.
Dunn notes many pathways for young people and men in particular to earn a good living and contribute to their society economically after high school.
Still, he added, “we should not get high-centered on only the economic prospects, because that sense of purpose is broader than just economics or public policy. There’s something cultural going on that we need to understand and be clear-eyed about how we can address it.”
The survey was given to 809 men online between May 30 and June 6. It has an error margin of plus or minus 3.45%. The data was weighted to be nationally representative in terms of age, race, education, where people live and 2024 presidential voting behavior.