Boys Are Falling Behind — But Is It a Crisis?

Pearson, H. (2025). Are boys really in crisis? What the science says in the age of the manosphere. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00705-5

Pearson (2025) synthesizes global evidence on whether boys and young men constitute a population in crisis. Drawing on data from the UNESCO (2022) education analysis, the Global Burden of Disease study, and Equimundo and Pew Research Center surveys, the article evaluates outcomes across education, physical health, mental health, and masculine socialization.

In education, boys are more likely than girls to fail to complete secondary school, with UNESCO (2025) estimating that approximately 80 young men were enrolled in university for every 100 young women across roughly 40 countries. In health, injuries account for 33% of healthy life years lost among male adolescents compared to 15% among females. Mental health data reveal a more complex picture: while anxiety and depression are more prevalent among girls, boys die by suicide at three times the rate of girls in high-income countries. Compounding these outcomes, boys report significantly lower comfort discussing mental health with peers and are more likely to endorse norms of self-reliance and emotional suppression.

Researchers caution against over-attributing these disparities to gender equity gains. Rather, structural factors including poverty, violence exposure, and constrained socialization appear to drive many observed gaps.

Implications for Mentoring

The evidence reviewed here carries direct relevance for mentoring practice. Boys’ documented discomfort with emotional disclosure and help-seeking suggests that mentors should anticipate and actively work to reduce barriers to relational trust. Mentoring programs may also serve as structured opportunities to broaden boys’ conceptions of masculinity and model help-seeking behavior. Given the role of social isolation in boys’ poor mental health outcomes, consistent, supportive mentoring relationships may partially offset the “crisis of connection” described in the literature. Programs should be designed with attention to both gender and intersecting structural factors such as poverty and violence exposure.

Read the full paper here