Research
The data compiled by The Partnership for Male Youth documents a consistent and often overlooked pattern: across a wide range of physical and mental health conditions, young males ages 10–25 face risks that are either specific to them or concentrated among them, yet the health care system is not structured to reach them. The evidence, drawn from CDC surveillance, peer-reviewed research, and national clinical guidelines, shows young males dying at markedly higher rates than their female peers from leading causes of death in adolescence, between roughly 2.4 and 6.7 times higher for ages 15–19 depending on the cause. It also shows them accounting for nearly eight of every ten new HIV diagnoses among 13- to 24-year-olds, with 6,310 male diagnoses compared with 807 female in 2023. Young males also show elevated rates of high blood pressure (12.9 percent of boys versus 6.5 percent of girls) and carry disproportionate burdens in substance use, injury, violence, and certain cancers. At the same time, young males are less likely than young females to have a regular source of care, to receive preventive services, or to complete recommended vaccine series, so these risks often go undetected and unaddressed. This matters because adolescence and young adulthood are when lifelong health behaviors and risks take shape. Gaps left open in these years show up later as preventable chronic disease, premature death, and costs to families and communities. Taken together, the data make the case that young male health deserves recognition as a distinct field of practice, research, and policy, with screening, outreach, and services designed around how young males actually seek and use care.
Overlooked Health Risks and Care Gaps Facing Young Males
Adolescent and young adult (AYA) males ages 10–25 face health risks that are often missed, misread, or left untreated. Some conditions present differently in males than in females; others go undetected because there is no routine screening pathway or regular point of entry into primary care for this population. This briefing summarizes those risks and gaps across five areas: mental health, accidents and violence, cancer, physical health, and sexually transmitted infections.
Health Risks Specific to and Concentrated Among Young Males
Young males ages 10–25 face two kinds of health risk that young females do not share in the same way. The first, and by far the larger in population terms, is a set of conditions that affect both sexes but fall much more heavily on young males. The second is a shorter list of conditions that, because of male anatomy or the single X chromosome, occur only or almost only in males. A third group of male-skewed conditions begins in early childhood or produces its harm later in life, and these are noted separately. Wherever possible, the figures below are for ages within the 10–25 range, and each figure gives the ages it covers.
