Parker: How we cope shows men and women are different

I reported last week about the decided move of young women to the political left and away from the religious affiliation of their childhood.

But these measures, at least in the short run, do not appear to be relevant to the success young women are having in day-to-day living in America.

By measures such as work and academic achievement, young women are doing much better than young men.

Regarding work, as recently reported in The Wall Street Journal, more young women are now working than ever. The workforce participation rate of women ages 25-34, the percentage working or actively seeking work, stood at 78.5%, up nearly 6 percentage points from where it stood 10 years ago.

The picture regarding young men in this age range is far different. The workforce participation rate of young men ages 25-34 stood at 89.1%, down several points from where it stood 20 years ago. At the rate of 2004, another 700, 000 men in this age range today would be working.

The article reports that, per the Census Bureau, 20% of these young men are living with their parents, compared to 12% of women.

If we look at education, we get a similar picture.

As reported recently in Forbes Magazine, per data from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the gap between the number of women and the number of men enrolled in college has grown markedly over the years.

In 2021, there were 3.1 million more women enrolled in college than men. In 1979, this gap stood at 200,000.

Regarding high school graduation rates, in 2021, for 30 states that break out their data by gender, the graduation rate of women exceeded that of men by 6.2 percentage points.

Among those ages 16-24 who graduated high school from January to October 2023, the percentage of girls going on to enroll in college was 8 points higher than the percentage of boys.

Graduation rates of women from college exceeded that of men in 2022 by 6 percentage points.

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate in the United States increased almost 37% from 2000 to 2022. However, in 2022, the suicide rate among men was four times higher than among women.

However, an apparent counterfactual to all this is the rate of incidence of depression, as reported by Gallup.

Per Gallup, the incidence of reported depression in the United States is at an all-time high. In 2023, 17.8% of Americans reported currently being depressed or being treated for depression. This compared to 10.5% in 2015. Twenty-nine percent reported having been treated for depression at some time in their life. This compared to 19.6% in 2015.

However, the percentage of women reporting in 2023 to be depressed or being treated for depression, 23.8%, is double that of men, 11.3%. Further, the percent of women reporting depression or being treated for depression was 6.2 points higher in 2023 than in 2017, compared to an increase among men of 2 points.

What conclusions might be drawn from all of this?

Americans, overall, are stressed out in increasing numbers. Even though women are doing better than men coping materially in our country's increasingly hedonistic society, it's not working for them spiritually.

Women are hard-wired, at least in the short run, to materially cope better than men in a spiritual vacuum.

Men need the responsibility that comes with meaning, and most often, the source of meaning is marriage, family and religion. The declining appreciation for the importance of faith is taking a disproportionate toll among men.

But beyond all this, the data points to one important conclusion, simple and obvious, but increasingly obfuscated in our very confused, politically correct society of today.

Men and woman are different.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education.