Men’s Health Equity: A Handbook

Worldwide, men have more opportunities, privileges, and power, yet they also have shorter life expectancies than women. Why is this? Why are there stark differences in the burden of disease, quality of life, and length of life amongst men, by race, ethnicity, (dis)ability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, rurality, and national context? Why is this a largely unexplored area of research? Men’s Health Equity is the first volume to describe men’s health equity as a field of study that emerged from gaps in and between research on men’s health and health inequities.

This handbook provides a comprehensive review of foundations of the field; summarizes the issues unique to different populations; discusses key frameworks for studying and exploring issues that cut across populations in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Central America, and South America; and offers strategies for improving the health of key population groups and achieving men’s health equity overall. This book systematically explores the underlying causes of these differences, describes the specific challenges faced by particular groups of men, and offers policy and programmatic strategies to improve the health and well-being of men and pursue men’s health equity. Men’s Health Equity will be the first collection to present the state of the science in this field, its progress, its breadth, and its future.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, researchers, students, and professionals interested in men’s health equity, men’s health, psychology of men’s health, gender studies, public health, and global health.

Derek M. Griffith, PhD is the Founder and Director of the Center for Research on Men’s Health and Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. His research applies an intersectional approach to explore strategies to eliminate men’s health disparities and improve Black and Latino men’s health in the United States and the health of men across the globe.

Marino A. Bruce, PhD, MSRC, MDiv is Associate Director of the Center for Research on Men’s Health, Director of the Program for Research on Faith and Health within the Center, and Research Associate Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. His research examines religion and spirituality as determinants of health for African American boys and men.

Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., PhD is Founding Director of the Program for Research on Men’s Health and Associate Professor of Health, Behavior, and Society at Bloomberg School of Public Health. As a social epidemiologist and gerontologist, his research focuses on understanding the biopsychosocial factors that lead to improving the lives of African American men using a life course perspective.