US men, women and social networks: Study connects the dots

SALT LAKE CITY — A lot of Americans feel lonely and isolated.

The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has warned of an "epidemic" of loneliness in the U.S. There's a mental health crisis of sorts, he has said, with even young Americans too often anxious and depressed. In August, he issued an advisory noting a mental health crisis among U.S. parents.

Amid the discussions of mental health, many have wondered how men are faring, both as a group and in comparison to women.

Pew Research Center on Thursday released a new report designed to answer some of the questions about men and women and their social connections, from how many have friends to where they turn for social support — and how much they think they need it. The report is based on a nationally representative survey of 6,204 adults that was conducted in early to mid-September. Kim Parker, director of social trends research at Pew, said it was part of a larger survey looking at men and masculinity.

"There's a lot of societal concern about how men are faring these days and, you know, do men not have friends? Are men isolated and are they lonely? So those are some of the things that we explored," Parker told the Deseret News.

She said Pew wanted to test the accuracy of conversations around men's lives. "I think particularly this narrative about men being so lonely has kind of really taken hold. But oftentimes when you see those articles, it's very anecdotal. So here we've got a big sample of Americans and we can break it down by different demographic groups." She said the study supplies data to that conversation and "underscores the nuance and complexity."

Contrary to popular belief, men don't necessarily feel more lonely or isolated than women. About 1 in 6 Americans say they feel lonely or isolated from those around them most of the time — and in about equal shares based on gender. Age makes a difference, though. Adults younger than 50 are more likely than those who are older to say they feel lonely (22% vs. 9%).

Women, though, are more apt than men to say they are likely to turn to others for the emotional support that they need.

It's not that men don't have friends; they are just as apt as women to say they do have friends. They differ, though, in how much they reach out to and connect with their social networks. Women seem to be better at that, according to Parker.

Women also connect more often with friends using tools like texts, social media, phone calls and video chats. Men and women are equally likely to get together face to face with friends.

Among the report's other highlights:

• Education, income and marital status make a difference when it comes to emotional well-being. Those who don't have college degrees, who have lower incomes and who are not married are more likely than their highly educated, higher income or married peers to say they feel lonely a significant share of the time. And they feel less optimistic about their lives. "Optimism was kind of the inverse of loneliness," said Parker. "So the groups that we found were more likely to feel optimistic were the ones that were less likely to feel lonely."
• Adults younger than 50 in higher numbers say they'd be extremely or very likely to seek help from a mental health professional for emotional support (24%, compared to older adults at 14%).
• A high share of adults (58%) say they feel optimistic about life all or most of the time, while nearly a third say they sometimes feel that way. Just 1 in 10 say that's never the case.

Emotional support

"Beyond loneliness, which is kind of a narrow piece of our emotional lives, there's just emotional support more broadly. And there we found that women seem to have kind of a broader and a deeper well to draw from. Women were more likely to say that they would reach out to more people," Parker said.

While equally high numbers of men and women (74%) say they turn to their spouse or partner when they need emotional support, women are more likely than men to turn to their mom, a friend or other family members for support, per the survey.

While fewer than half of men would turn to their mom (42%), even fewer would call on a friend (38%) or another relative (26%) for that support.

Few adults say they'd be likely to seek emotional support through online platforms or communities (5%).

In large numbers, however, Americans think both men and women are doing better now than 20 years ago at getting needed emotional support.

Nurturing social networks

When it comes to keeping in touch with friends, texting is especially common, with 6 in 10 adults who have close friends saying they text anywhere from daily to several times a week. Just under 4 in 10 say they interact with friends on social media, while just over 1 in 3 say they share phone calls or video chat.

There's very little difference between men and women when it comes to in-person interactions with pals. About 3 in 10 say they see a close friend face-to-face a few times a week, men slightly more likely to say that than women.

Gender differences are notable when it comes to social media interactions. Women are more likely by a margin of 10 points to say they interact frequently that way.

Among those younger than 30, there's not much difference between men and women in terms of how they communicate with friends using texting or social media. At age 30 and older, women are more likely than men to keep in touch using one of those methods.

All-male or all-female groups

Parker said Pew wondered how people feel about same-gender social groups or gathering places. They found that most adults say those have a positive impact on well-being, though all-female groups earned higher marks than all-male groups (67% vs. 56%).

There was a political division there, however. "By double-digit margins, larger shares of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents than Democrats and Democrat leaners say all-male social groups have a positive impact on men's overall well-being (63% vs. 50%) and on society (50% vs. 37%)," the report said.

Democrats in larger numbers than Republicans say all-female social groups benefit female well-being (72% vs. 65%) and society (64% vs. 53%).

In contrast, Republican men are the most likely to say all-male groups have a positive impact on society, at 54% compared to 45% of Republican women, 40% of Democratic men and 34% of Democratic women.

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