The JED report<\/a>, \u201cThe Emotional Lives of Boys and Young Men,\u201d was formed through a multistep process that included a review of existing research, an exploration of how young men discuss mental health across digital platforms, and a two-day convening in New York that brought together experts and young men themselves.<\/p>\nWhile girls and young women are socialized to talk and to be empathic, Hurley said boys are taught from a young age to be stoic, self-reliant, successful and emotionally controlled.<\/p>\n
Cultural norms around masculinity shape how boys deal with everyday emotions, she said.<\/p>\n
For some boys, their powerful emotions are expressed through anger and aggression.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause again, they’ve been taught to internalize for so long that when it comes out, it’s explosive,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cIt can be very hurtful to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Distress can turn into risky behavior, like reckless driving, substance abuse, unsafe sexual behavior, or compulsive day trading or sports betting.<\/p>\n
Deondr\u00e9 Guignard said he didn\u2019t grow up with the emotional tools necessary to deal with the anxiety and isolation he was experiencing through high school and into college.<\/p>\n
Guignard moved from upstate New York for college, where he\u2019s about to graduate from the University of San Diego. But alone on the other side of the country, Guignard recalled experiencing panic attacks in his college dorm room.<\/p>\n
He recalled that his only coping mechanism as a teenager was listening to a song that would calm him down a little bit. Otherwise, he felt like he had to just \u201cpush through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while at USD, therapy helped Guignard discover healthier ways to deal with his troubles. And then he found a men\u2019s discussion group called \u201cGuy Talk,\u201d where he finally felt safe talking about his challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I really found that I’m not the only one that is experiencing these things,\u201d Guignard said.<\/p>\n
Knowing others shared his struggles was \u201cempowering,\u201d Guignard said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Hurley highlighted a critical need for strong male mentorship.<\/p>\n
The JED report includes actionable guidance for caregivers and communities to support the mental health of boys and young men.<\/p>\n
For parents, active, empathic listening can go a long way, Hurley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find over and over again that young people want to go to their parents for help,\u201d she said. \u201cBut one of the biggest barriers to that is they think their parents are either going to try to fix it immediately or punish them, or they’re just not going to hear what they’re actually saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
JED will also host a webinar<\/a> that\u2019s open to the public next week, designed to help caring adults better recognize and respond to signs of distress, and improve their connections with the boys and young men in their lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNND) \u2014 A new report examines the mental health challenges facing boys and young men, with experts saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":["post-656298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}