Men’s mental health has remained undertheorized, particularly in terms of the gendered nature of men’s social relations. While the importance of social connections and strong supportive networks for improving mental health and well-being is well documented, we know little about men’s social support networks or how men go about seeking or mobilizing social support. An in-depth understanding of the gendered nature of men’s social connections and the ways in which the interplay between masculinity and men’s social connections can impact men’s mental health is needed. Fifteen life history interviews were undertaken with men in the community. A theoretical framework of gender relations was used to analyze the men’s interviews. The findings provide rich insights into men’s diverse patterns of practice in regards to seeking or mobilizing social support. While some men differentiated between their social connections with men and women, others experienced difficulties in mobilizing support from existing connections. Some men maintained a desire to be independent, rejecting the need for social support, whereas others established support networks from which they could actively seek support. Overall, the findings suggest that patterns of social connectedness among men are diverse, challenging the social science literature that frames all men’s social relationships as being largely instrumental, and men as less able and less interested than women in building emotional and supportive relationships with others. The implications of these findings for promoting men’s social connectedness and mental health are discussed.

The stigma of men’s mental illness has been described as having wide-reaching and profound consequences beyond the condition[s] itself. Stigma negatively impacts men’s mental health help-seeking and the use of services amid impeding disclosures, diminishing social connection and amplifying economic hardship. Although men often face barriers to discussing their struggles with, and help-seeking for mental illness challenges, research focused on men’s lived experiences of mental illness stigma is, at best, emergent. This scoping review explores men’s mental illness related stigmas synthesizing and discussing the findings drawn from 21 published qualitative articles over the last 10 years. Four thematic findings were derived: (a) the weight of societal stigma, (b) stigma in male-dominated environments, (c) inequity driven stigmas, and (d) de-stigmatizing strategies. Despite evidence that stigma is a common experience for men experiencing diverse mental illness challenges, the field remains underdeveloped. Based on the scoping review findings, research gaps and opportunities for advancing the field are discussed.

Given concerns about suicide or self-harm content on Instagram, we conducted a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed English language primary studies published between 2010–2019. Only ten studies had been published. Looking into purposive samples of Instagram posts tagged with self-harm related hashtags, studies report finding self-harm or suicide content in between 9–66% of their studied posts. Studies assessing Instagram’s efforts to tackle such content found they had not been very effective. Despite heterogeneity in study aims, use of terminology, samples, methods of analysis, and study outcomes, we aggregated and distinguished ‘content studies’ and ‘user studies’. Most studies showed concern for self-harm risk, but only one examined the relationship between self-harm posts and actual self-harm behaviours offline. It found such content had negative emotional effects on some users and reported preliminary evidence of potential harmful effects in relation to self-harm related behaviours offline, although causal effects cannot be claimed. At the same time, some benefits for those who engage with self-harm content online have been suggested. More research directly interviewing Instagram users to understand this phenomenon from their perspective is required. Finally, some ethical issues are discussed.

Adult socioeconomic position (SEP) is one of the most frequently hypothesised indirect pathways between childhood SEP and adult health. However, few studies that explore the indirect associations between childhood SEP and adult health systematically investigate the mediating role of multiple individual measures of adult SEP for different health outcomes. We examine the potential mediating role of individual measures of adult SEP in the associations of childhood SEP with self-rated health, self-reported mental health, current smoking status and binge drinking in adulthood.

Background Longitudinal studies specifically looking at the transition into parenthood and changes in mental health in the general population are scarce. This study aimed to investigate the impact of transition into parenthood on mental health and psychological distress using longitudinal survey data. Methods The analysis used three waves from the longitudinal Survey of Family, Income and Employment. Parenthood was classified as first time parent (first and only child <12 months at interview date), subsequent parent (child <12 months and other children in the family), existing parent (no children <12 months but other existing children in the family) and not a parent. We used fixed effects generalised linear modelling, controlling for all time-invariant and time-varying sources of confounding in a sample of 6670 adults within families. Results After adjusting for confounding from time-varying partner status, area deprivation, labour force status and household income, those who became first time parents reported an increase in mental health (β 1.22, 95% CI −0.06 to 2.50; mean=83.8, SD=14.1) and a decrease in psychological distress (β −0.70 95% CI −1.10 to −0.29; mean=13.4, SD=5.0). Subsequent parents reported a decrease in psychological distress (β −0.60 95% CI −0.95 to −0.24). Conclusions Our findings suggest that a transition into parenthood for the first time leads to changes in mental health and psychological distress. Understanding the relationship between becoming a parent and mental health outcomes is important given that parental mental health is integral to effective parenting.

In the context of the recent surge in community based multilevel interventions for suicide prevention, all of which show promising results, we discuss the implications of the findings of such an intervention designed for and implemented in New Zealand. The multi-level intervention for suicide prevention in New Zealand (MISP-NZ) was a cluster randomised controlled community intervention trial involving eight hospital regions matched into four pairs and randomised to either the intervention or practice as usual (the control). Intervention regions received 25 months of interventions (01 June 2010 to 30 June 2012) including: 1) training in recognition of suicide risk factors; 2) workshops on mental health issues; 3) community based interventions (linking in with community events); and 4) distribution of print material and information on web-based resources. There was no significant difference between the change in rate of suicidal behaviours (ISH or self-inflicted deaths) in the intervention group compared with the control group (rate ratio = 1.07, 95% CI 0.82, 1.38). This study did not provide substantive evidence that the MISP-NZ intervention had an effect on suicidal behaviours raising important questions about the potential effectiveness of the multilevel intervention model for suicide prevention for all countries. Although a range of factors may account for this unanticipated finding, including inadequate study power, differences in design and intervention focus, and country-specific contextual factors, it is possible that the effectiveness of the multilevel intervention model for reducing suicidal behaviours may have been overstated. This trial was retrospectively registered on 11 April 2013. ACTRN12613000399796 .