Headlines abound about the ways in which men and boys are struggling in our divided, digital age. But commentators too often overlook the distinct mental health challenges that Black men and boys face. Rates of suicidality among Black Americans have increased significantly in recent decades, and men represent a startling 81% of decedents. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death for young Black men, and the numbers are rising.
New research by Leslie Adams, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, offers a framework for understanding – and addressing – this mental health crisis. At a recent meeting of the Clayman Institute’s Faculty Research Fellows, Adams presented her paper, “Performing Strength: Racialized Masculinity in the Lived Experiences of Black Men at Risk of Suicide,” just published in the Journal of Men’s Health. Adams argues that effective suicide prevention requires attending to how racial oppression and patriarchal gender norms jointly impact Black men’s well-being.
While studies on suicide prevention typically focus on individual risk factors, Adams advocates a broader, social lens. Her work centers racism, discrimination, and “other systemic stressors” that affect individuals and put them at greater risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. “My perspective toward this issue,” Adams explained, “is that it does not exist in a vacuum, that there are many societal factors that contribute to it that we haven’t fully understood.”
Adams and her co-authors conducted a study of 15 participants who identified as Black men and had histories of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. In semi-structured interviews, participants were asked about their mental health, social influences and social support, and experiences with racial discrimination. The research team did not explicitly ask about gender norms, but they noticed the topic emerge organically, again and again. Participants were clearly struggling with a rigid and racialized vision of manhood, shaped by generations of racial oppression and continually reinforced by society, media, and peers.
Addressing Black men’s suicide risk, then, requires applying the framework of “intersectionality” developed by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (the Clayman Institute’s 2016 Jing Lyman Lecturer). Looking to race or gender alone cannot capture the distinct mental health challenges that Black men face. Instead, explained Adams, we must think about race and gender as “interlocking and mutually reinforcing systems of oppression.”
To counter racist prejudice, Black men may ascribe to a standard of “racialized masculinity” predicated on strength, stoicism, and self-reliance. But pressure to comply with these ideals can fuel psychological distress while at the same time discourage seeking psychological help – a dangerous “double bind.” Adams recalled interviewees’ expressions of frustration that “they are expected to endure cumulative trauma, generational trauma of racism, violence, isolation, while being denied the psychological space to process those atrocities.”
The intersecting stressors of racism and gender norms were particularly acute during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted between 2022 and 2023, on the heels of the pandemic and the reckoning over police violence against Black Americans. Adams reflected on how Black men’s mental health suffered – and continues to suffer – from this period of intensified social isolation, economic insecurity, and threats to physical safety.
Despite this difficult landscape, Adams sees promising pathways to suicide prevention. Recognizing how the constraints of racialized masculinity heighten Black men’s risk of suicide is a key first step. Future studies and interventions must account for how the intersecting structures of race and gender together inform mental health. Adams urges investment in “culturally grounded solutions” and the creation of “community and digital spaces to affirm emotional expression.”
While further research and funding is necessary to identify successful community-based programs and replicate them at scale, individuals can help, too. Adams advised that the best way to support loved ones who are struggling is to listen, be available, and lead by example through sharing and embracing vulnerability.