Work

Masculinity and Mental Health in Later Life in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Review of Recent Literature

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Research on aging and mental health in Sub‐Saharan Africa has expanded in recent years, yet scholarship continues to overlook the experiences of older men despite major demographic and social change across the region. In this review, I synthesize conceptual and empirical studies published between 2000 and 2025 on masculinity, aging, and mental health, drawing on searches conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online. I include studies that examine older men, mental health outcomes, and gendered dimensions of aging across diverse SSA contexts. To guide the analysis, I apply five key frameworks from the literature: hegemonic masculinity, gender performance, intersectionality, structural vulnerability, and life course and stress process perspectives. These frameworks allow me to show how masculinities in later life are shaped by economic precarity, bodily change, shifting kinship expectations, social isolation, and culturally embedded idioms of distress and help‐seeking. I identify persistent gaps in the evidence, including urban and clinic sampling biases, limited age and gender disaggregation, reliance on Western mental health constructs, and the scarcity of longitudinal or mixed‐methods research. I conclude by calling for culturally grounded, gender‐responsive approaches that can inform more inclusive mental health policies and interventions for aging men in SSA.

Source: Sociology Compass

DOI: 10.1111/soc4.70148

Author: Sunkanmi Folorunsho

Institution: University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Language: English

Topic: Gender Roles and Identity Studies

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,350