Men: We Need You to Go to the Doctor, and to Become Doctors
By Daniel Low, MD
The rare article highlighting men’s health typically focuses on prostate cancer or heart disease. These are serious issues, but as a physician whose panel is predominantly made of boys and men, what worries me most about men’s health is the generalized male withdrawal from the health sector. Lonely, apathetic, or disinterested men are not seeking care. Men are half as likely as women to maintain routine health screenings, and 33% less likely to visit the doctor at all.
And it’s not just disengaging from health care; men are also disengaging from social life. Fifteen percent of men now report having no close friends, which is worse for one’s health than smoking. Men are similarly disengaging from school. In 1972, when Title IX passed, men were graduating from college 13% more often than women; today, women graduate from college 15% more often than men. Similar graduation rate disparities pervade high school, too.
While social and educational engagement may seem unrelated to health, research repeatedly demonstrates their association with wellness. When boys and men aren’t with friends and aren’t in school, they disproportionately face worse health outcomes, including increased rates of homelessness, drug addiction, incarceration, and death.
Focusing on men’s struggles in the context of gender equality feels misplaced, a narrative violation, particularly given men have always occupied the dominant space in society. It’s especially grating knowing that women’s health research has been consistently underfunded, gender pay gaps persist, and women and gender-diverse people are frequently and unfairly overlooked for executive-level positions, particularly within medicine.
It’s why when I originally drafted this piece two years ago, I decided against publication; in highlighting the challenges of the privileged, I felt I’d also be unintentionally directing attention away from more marginalized groups. But I believe we can hold two truths at once. We can champion equality for women and gender-diverse people, and recognize that men are struggling.
Men’s structural power is not translating into health advantages. In fact, men are dying, on average, five years earlier than women, while simultaneously suffering from significantly worse mental, neurological, and musculoskeletal disorders.
Despite many theories, it’s ultimately unclear why this is happening, which is why we should support the growing coalition pushing Washington to create a commission on men and boys; we need to study the root causes of this public health crisis.
We also need representation. When young boys are most impressionable, they rarely see themselves in their doctors, as less than one-third of pediatricians in Washington are men. For those with mental illness seeking care with a therapist or social worker, it is even less likely to find a male practitioner in Washington, which is particularly worrisome given the increasing rates of anxiety and depression in boys and men. To be clear, evidence shows female physicians offer equal or better care than male physicians. But if boys and men don’t engage in care, the quality of care offered becomes a moot point.
And without intentional efforts, change will not arrive soon. Male medical student matriculants have decreased for eight consecutive years. The view is similar further up the pipeline. I lead a mentorship program for racially and economically underrepresented high school students interested in careers in health care, and since our program’s inception in 2021, we’ve only had one young man graduate.
We need proactive, targeted recruitment of men for patient-centered, healing professions like pediatrics, nursing, psychology, and social work. This requires incentivizing professionals to mentor; institutions should include mentoring activities as criteria for promotions.
Simultaneously, we need to cultivate a new masculinity in our young men that embraces the tenderness and sociability of excellent caregivers. We want our sons, brothers, and fathers to be compassionate, active listeners who practice grace. Let’s start by modeling this behavior and acknowledging the real struggles boys and men are experiencing.
Daniel Low, MD, is a family medicine physician in Renton.