Young Men Aren't the Only Ones Struggling

"The plight of young men has, for some years now, been a cause of public concern; recently the din of alarm bells seems louder than ever. Men are attending and graduating from college at rates lower than in the past-and lower than women. Large shares of working-age men, especially young ones, are unemployed. Jarring numbers are dying "deaths of despair," a term coined by the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton to describe mortality due to suicide, overdose, or alcoholic liver disease."

"On a sunny Monday last November, I filed into a single large room in Washington, D.C. There I saw a crowd of older white men, wearing crisp suits and shaking hands; a few women were sprinkled among them. This was the Symposium on Young American Men, where politicians, researchers, nonprofit leaders, higher-education administrators, and journalists had gathered to discuss what they agreed was a troubled and downtrodden population."

An elite convening in Washington, D.C. brought together policymakers, researchers, nonprofit leaders, higher-education administrators, and journalists to address the struggles of young American men. Young men now attend and graduate from college at lower rates than before and lower than women. Large shares of working-age men, especially young ones, are unemployed. Mortality from suicide, overdose, and alcoholic liver disease has risen and been labeled "deaths of despair." Prominent commentators and new organizations attribute causes to the decline of male-dominated industries, critiques of masculinity, and economic pressures on breadwinner roles. These explanations portray a loss of purpose and identity among many young men.

Read at The Atlantic