It’s a startling statistic: Men are likely to die an average of seven years younger than women, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
A variety of factors contribute to the shorter life span of men. They are more likely to engage in risk behaviors such as drinking and smoking, less likely to seek medical attention or counseling for personal problems and often follow “tough-guy” mantras such as “play through the pain,” said Joanne Frank, health education director at the University Health Center.
But Frank, along with a group of concerned University staff, is working to change those factors and close the gap between men’s and women’s life spans.
Using funds from the E.C. Brown Charitable Trust Grant, the University group has organized a series of events throughout April to help raise awareness of men’s health issues. Event organizers hope their efforts will entice male University students to take better care of themselves and learn what gender-specific health problems they should watch for.
“With the focus on men’s health, it’s really showing us all that men have specific needs, just as women do,” said Anne Mattson, a registered nurse at the health center. Some of the leading causes of death among men, including heart disease, testicular cancer and lung cancer, are preventable, Mattson said, but men often don’t seek health care.
Frank said the idea to focus on men’s health issues arose after a group of concerned staff from the health center, University Counseling Center, Office of Student Life and Physical Activity and Recreational Services saw a need last year to research how men on campus dealt with health issues.
Last spring, the staff asked a cross-section of males from various campus organizations to participate in focus groups in an effort to gauge their feelings about health care. They found that men were concerned about issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, anger management, sex and relationships and depression and stress said Jon Davies, a psychologist with the University Counseling Center who helped lead the research.
“We also found that men had concerns for the health of other men but felt frustrated in their efforts to help them,” Davies said.
Due to societal norms, men are taught from a young age to ignore their symptoms and not talk about personal discomfort, a problem Frank terms the “machismo effect.” In addition, men in the focus groups listed several reasons for not seeking health care, ranging from being “too embarrassed” to believing they were too young to worry about far-off health problems such as heart disease or cancer.
Men also look at health care differently, Mattson said.
“When women think about their health, they tend to be more concerned with their overall well-being,” she said. “But when men think about their health, they tend to think about being fit and attractive.”
Organizers hope the events will help change men’s attitudes about their health.
“Raising everybody’s consciousness on campus is what next week’s events are all about,” Mattson said.

Events begin tonight
Dr. Will Courtenay, a California psychotherapist and expert in men’s health issues, will kick off the series of awareness events tonight at 7 in the EMU Ballroom with a discussion of men’s health issues and how attitudes about masculinity influence the health risks men take.
Organizers also scheduled an academic seminar on men’s health issues for next weekend, April 15 and 16. The seminar aims to raise men’s awareness of their physical and emotional health concerns and increase the chances of them seeking help, said Davies, who will be one of the course instructors.
Davies added that there will likely be more men’s health seminars next year because the one offered this term quickly filled up.
The series will conclude at 7 p.m. April 21 with a free question-and-answer session at McArthur Court hosted by Dr. Drew from the popular MTV show and radio program “Loveline.”
In addition to the scheduled events, the health center has prepared “Men’s Well Duck Check” sheets, which list the leading causes of death for men and preventative health measures they should take, such as getting a physical exam and performing regular testicular exams.