November 17th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
Both International Men’s Day and Men’s Health Awareness month fall in November so we’re zeroing in on British men’s mental wellbeing. We examine some of the issues that affect their mental health, whether men consider themselves mentally healthy and whether they are optimistic or not about the direction the world is headed in.
For this piece, we explore data from YouGov Profiles - which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioural consumer metrics and is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys.
1. Younger men most likely to keep their feelings to themselves; older men most likely to say they’re comfortable witnessing public displays of emotion, like crying
60% of British men tend to keep their feelings to themselves
Three in five men (60%) and more than half of all women (53%) say they tend to keep their feelings to themselves. Conversely, women are more likely than men (37% vs. 31%) to say they readily express their feelings.
By age:
Among those who do express their feelings, younger men are less likely to say they do so. On the flipside, more than a quarter of 25-to-39-year olds (27%), 40-to-59-year-olds (27%) and those aged 60 years and above (36%) say they readily express their feelings.
When asked how comfortable or uncomfortable they feel when witnessing public displays of emotion, like crying, younger men are least likely to say they are comfortable - similar proportions of 18-to-24-year olds (41%) and 25-to-39-year olds (42%) say so. More than half of 40-to-59-year olds (53%) and 60+ year-olds (52%) say they are comfortable witnessing public displays of emotion.
2. Majority of men say it’s fine to be a stay-at-home-dad; most of them agree that men and women should equally shoulder household responsibilities
75% of men say it's alright to be a stay-at-home dad.
A majority of men agree with the statement that “It’s fine to be a stay-at-home dad nowadays” - 75% of men in Great Britain are of this opinion. Women, however, are more likely (84%) to agree with the statement.
Further, significant proportions of both men (86%) and women (93%) agree with the statement that “men and women should have equal responsibility in household life.”
3. Women more likely than men to say they can’t sit still for too long without feeling bad for themselves
47% of 25-to-39-year olds agree they can’t sit still for too long without feeling bad about themselves
Almost two in five men in Great Britain (39%) say they can’t sit still for too long without feeling bad about themselves. By comparison, women are more likely to say so (43%).
By age:
Looking at YouGov’s demographic data, we see men between 25 and 39 years of age are most likely to say they can’t sit still for too long without feeling bad about themselves - 47% of this demographic says so.
When it comes to people men approach when they feel the need to talk to someone, two in five men say their partner or spouse is their trusted first point of contact (40%), followed by a friend (20%). Over a third of women also choose their partner or spouse (34%) followed by their friends (29%). Notably, 18% of British men say they don’t talk to anyone. Comparatively, British women are less likely than men (12%) to say they don’t talk to anyone.
4. Younger men are more optimistic about the world, say it’s getting better
71% of men feel the world is getting worse.
Women are more likely than men (76% vs. 71%) to say that, all things considered, the world is getting worse but just one in ten men (10%) are optimistic about the direction the world is headed in - they say the world is getting better.
By age:
We see that younger men i.e. those between 18 and 29 years of age are the least likely (61%) to say the world is getting worse. On the other hand, older men are more likely to hold a pessimistic view about the direction the world is headed in, with those aged 65 years and above being the most likely to say (75%) the world is getting worse.
5. Women more likely than men to say they take care of themselves emotionally; but men are more likely to consider themselves emotionally healthy
79% of men say they take care of themselves emotionally
A majority of British men agree (79%) that they try to care of themselves emotionally. Women are more likely to say so (84%). But men are more likely than women (44% vs. 40%) to say they consider themselves to be emotionally healthy. They are also more likely than women (49% vs. 44%) to say they consider themselves to be mentally healthy.
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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
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