Male pathway · Ages 14–18
One adolescent + one parent, guardian or mentor
Gender norms are assimilated from a young age, and younger males may endorse masculine norms particularly strongly.
Some ways of performing masculinity may help.
Some may constrain.
Some may be neutral.
Context matters.
The outcome: “I can carry responsibility without believing I must carry everything alone.”
I can do difficult things.
I can act for myself.
I know what is mine to carry.
I know when another person belongs in the problem.
Asking is a competent action, not evidence that competence failed.
In a longitudinal study of 829 Australian boys and young men, different masculine norms showed different relationships with later suicidal ideation.
Greater conformity to self-reliance was associated with 40% higher odds of later suicidal ideation for each one-unit increase, after adjustment for measured confounders.
Independence is not isolation. Capability can coexist with asking, disclosure and knowing when another person belongs in the problem.
Greater conformity to violence norms was associated with 23% higher odds of later suicidal ideation for each one-unit increase.
Strength and toughness are not synonymous with violence. The developmental question is not whether boys should be strong, but what they learn strength is for.
It is how many ways of being strong they have available to them.
King, T. L., Shields, M., Sojo, V., Daraganova, G., Currier, D., O’Neil, A., King, K., & Milner, A. (2020). Expressions of masculinity and associations with suicidal ideation among young males. BMC Psychiatry, 20, 228. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-2475-y
We retain and work with:
courage · loyalty · protection · competence · physicality · perseverance · humour · service · craft · responsibility · adventure · ambition · leadership
while placing alongside:
care · tenderness · dependence · uncertainty · restraint · listening · asking · repair · cooperation · emotional honesty.
Tell us where to reach you and we will be in touch when the next cohort opens. No call required.
We will email you when the next cohort opens. Nothing else, and nothing before then.
