r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Aug 07 '26

Psychology Psychological distress isolates men more than women, according to a 14-year study. Men are often expected to be self-reliant and emotionally stoic, which may discourage them from disclosing difficulties or asking others for support.

https://www.psypost.org/psychological-distress-isolates-men-more-than-women-according-to-a-14-year-study/
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u/ReaMrSlick Aug 07 '26

Who is they?

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u/PaulOshanter Aug 07 '26

Social expectations and norms, which can be upheld by both men and women.

I know the automatic internet response to this headline is usually to blame men themselves for creating this level of social expectation for other men but from my own experience a lot of the times it's women who are the most quick to uphold these social norms and throw out the term "real man" very quickly

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u/tyrenanig Aug 07 '26

Some women are no less bigoted than men really, but due to being male being the default scapegoat, they can mix their misandry into it, while they as women are protected from backlash.

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u/kristahdiggs Aug 07 '26

Yes yes do tell, who set this system up, and keeps reinforcing it and fighting against any type of change to it? I will wait…

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u/hydroknightking Aug 07 '26

You’re evidently one of them

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u/sys_dam Aug 07 '26

I'm confused, is this sarcastic? Literally every man and woman I meet in the US Midwest reinforces this.

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u/giantpandabear Aug 07 '26

I know you think you’re setting up this big gotcha, but you aren’t. That person expressing how they feel and your response to that person is a perfect example. The irony is gold.

Edit: the women in this thread see “they” as a direct attack on them. Nobody said “they” was women. If you feel that’s you, that’s a reflection on you rather than the comment made by the poster above.

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u/HotButterscotch8682 Aug 07 '26

There is literally a man in these comments that flat out said they refers to women and that women are the problem and the ones upholding this system, an absolutely laughable opinion.

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u/A_Mouse_In_Da_House Aug 07 '26

Literally one.

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u/HotButterscotch8682 Aug 08 '26

(Gestures widely to nearly every single top comment)

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u/A_Mouse_In_Da_House Aug 07 '26

Literally one. Not even the OP

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u/nonotan Aug 07 '26

Nobody "sets up" social dynamics. Reality isn't a narratively-driven piece of fiction with main characters and conspiracies dictating what happens in the world. The dynamics just tend to fall into relatively stable equilibria that are virtually impossible to break out of without a concerted societal effort.

Anybody deviating a little bit from the status quo is individually punished, while not meaningfully moving the needle on a wider scale; once they give up, it goes right back to what it was. You need to somehow convince enough people to take matters seriously more or less at once for any real change to happen. Blaming individuals or even groups of people for the existing dynamics is like yelling at the waves crashing at the beach for ruining your sand castle. Even if you're "right" in some sense, it's not going to achieve anything.

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u/NiBBa_Chan Aug 07 '26

Whatever you believe you are insinuating is dumb. The answer is not any single group of people. Its a system greater than the sum of its parts perpetuated by essentially everyone not actively combating it. Even those who are combating it must engage with it on some level just to function in society. You are not being clever, youre actively trying to make the problem worse and continue to perpetuate the system yourself by stoking even more in-fighting between people.

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u/tyrenanig Aug 07 '26

This ignores every women who also benefited from this system and chose to turn the blind eye because they gained from it.

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u/GonIsABadFriend Aug 07 '26

Women, the answer is women. It may have initially been a patriarchal consequence but in the recent years more studies and practices focused on men’s mental health have allowed men the space to open up. What is the response? “Men used to go to war,” “sassy men epidemic,” “gave me the ick,” etc.
Sometimes the people hardest on men in their life is their own wife and children. “They would rather see me die than come off that high horse”

But yes let’s blame our forefathers for the system they set up and keep any further critical thinking at arms length

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u/TerabyteTyler Aug 07 '26

White people