| With only limited knowledge of the mental health conditions of the male population, policymakers search, nonetheless, for effective and politically feasible remedies to address the needs of men and their families. Programs and policies often ignore mental health altogether or are hampered by a dearth of theoretically-guided, empirically-based research into male-specific conditions and barriers to care.;Current studies point to gender differences in the prevalence, etiology and effects of mental health conditions. Fortunately, the requirement for gender-sensitive research focused on women's mental health has been recognized. However, recognition of the imperative for studies specifically tailored to the epidemiology and disability burdens of mental disorders among men is evolving more slowly. Moreover, a lack of available data, especially with respect to poor men and men of colour, presents a major challenge to accounting for the complexities and heterogeneity of the male population.;This study uses a policy relevant, racially diverse sample of fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey to first estimate the prevalence, comorbidity and course of depression, anxiety and substance dependence and then assess the predictive value of social selection and social causation hypotheses concerning the association of low socioeconomic status with increased prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Rigorous methodological techniques are used to deal with missing data, a problem that especially beleaguers survey research concerning men. Sub group analyses by race-ethnicity are provided.;The findings indicate that Fragile Families men report higher rates of depression and anxiety compared to national studies but lower rates of alcohol and drug dependence. Estimates also indicate that non-respondent fathers are, on average, worse off on most indicators, including psychopathology and socioeconomic status. A quasi-experimental strategy produces compelling results in favour of the dominance of social selection predictions over social causation predictions. However, the results of structural statistical models, which include mediational analyses, show that social selection and social causation processes are complementary and they produce a downward spiral in the intergenerational transmission of low socioeconomic status and psychopathology. |
