Mental Health

Boys and men are increasingly lonely, and at higher risk of suicide and “deaths of despair”

Fifteen percent of young men today say they don’t have a close friend–a five-fold increase since 1990. This loneliness, combined with a range of societal changes and pressures, has resulted in a mental health crisis for American boys and men. Today, men are four times more likely than women to die by suicide but ten percentage points less likely than women to access mental health care.

4x
In the U.S., men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women.
71%
Share of U.S. opioid overdose deaths that occur among men.
8%
The increase in the suicide rate among young men aged 15 to 24 from 2020 to 2021.