Robert A. Levine December 2, 2015
White men in America are dying in droves. Not all of them. The increase in mortality is being seen among middle-aged white men, unlike other age groups, women, men of other ethnicities, and men in other developed Western countries, all of whom are actually living longer lives. The sad thing is that most of these men are killing themselves in one way or another. Unlike the usual drivers of mortality like cancer and heart disease, the major causes of death in this group are drug overdoses of heroin and other opioids, methamphetamines, cirrhosis of the liver secondary to alcohol abuse, and suicides.
Interestingly, the increase in the death rates in middle-aged white men appears to be restricted to those who are poorly educated. But because their mortality rates are so excessive, they have raised the rate for all middle-aged Caucasian Americans. Men with a high school education or less had an increase of 134 deaths per 100,000 over a fifteen year period ending in 2014. This is an amazing and unheard of statistic when medical advances in diagnosis and treatment of major diseases have enhanced life expectancy in every other group and age range. Mortality rates of middle-aged Hispanic and black men decreased during this same interval (though the latter still have higher rates than white men).
The pattern seen is similar to an increase in mortality that occurred among Russian men, both the young and middle-aged, since the 1960s, but particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. They were also dying of drug overdoses, alcohol related conditions, suicides, and AIDS, the latter brought on mainly by using infected needles when injecting drugs. But there was also a significant rise in violent deaths, homicides and automobile accidents in these men.
When AIDS initially hit the developed world and affected mainly gays and drug users, mortality also increased until drugs were developed that could arrest the disease. But that mortality was offset by improved survival in the general population because of better diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular conditions and cancer.
The question is why was there an epidemic of substance abuse and suicides in America among poorly educated white middle-aged men that increased their death rate, while college graduates had a reduced mortality. Obviously, the incidence of depression and feelings of hopelessness captured many of these men for them to turn to drug and alcohol use or commit suicide. However, it is likely the problem for these men started much earlier in life before taking its toll in middle age. Many of them probably started abusing drugs or alcohol when they were younger. This may have been an escape because they were performing poorly in school or may have been related to their home situations, lack of support in their lives and lack of success in their endeavors and relationships.
What many high school graduates or drop outs did not understand was that blue collar jobs that paid well were disappearing in America and to find reasonable work one had to have a higher education or mastery of some new technology. Their inability to get an advanced education or specialized training targeted them for failure at an early age. (A history of mental illness, difficulty socializing, poor physical condition, increased reports of pain, trouble managing the ordinary tasks of daily living, were all found to be more prevalent in this cohort of men when they reached middle age.)
In the meantime, women were increasingly independent and successful, able to earn enough to support themselves and raise a family, with or without men. Girls did better in school than boys and often continued their educations past high school. And many women did not want to live with men who were less educated than they were and unable to earn decent livings. Men were no longer necessarily the primary breadwinners and the dominant figures in their families. It was not that woman’s lib had changed the relationships between men and women, but that women had adapted better to the new technological world than men, and were better able to perform the jobs that were available.
Lack of a suitable income and a dependency on drugs or alcohol also reinforced the odds against these men having a stable and happy marriage and family life, or even sustainable relationships. And by the time they reached middle-age, the chances of changing the paths they had taken were increasingly slim, and there was little for them to look forward to. So why not continue to escape with drugs or alcohol or choose to end it all by suicide. These statistics support the concept that education is the key to a fulfilling and lengthy life in the new technological age.
Resurrecting Democracy
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