Men's Health as a Multidimensional, Relational, and Socially Embedded Phenomenon

Men's health has historically occupied an ambiguous and often peripheral position within public health discourse. While global health systems have invested heavily in reproductive, maternal, and child health, men have frequently been framed as supporters rather than subjects of inquiry. This structural invisibility has produced a fragmented understanding of men's health - one that privileges narrow clinical indicators over the complex, lived realities that shape men's well-being across the life course.

This research topic seeks to reframe men's health as a multidimensional, relational, and socially embedded phenomenon. We aim to explore men’s lived experiences and health educational dimensions to understand how gender norms, institutional architectures, and sociocultural expectations shape health behaviors, access to care, and quality of life. By integrating sociological, educational, and life-course perspectives, this research topic positions men's health as a critical site for identity and relational practices, policy innovation, and community engagement.

We welcome original empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including public health, sociology, education, nursing, psychology, and the humanities. The full research articles may engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Health Education, Literacy and Communication
• Masculinity, health literacy, and learning: how gender norms shape men's engagement with health information and self-care
• Health education across ages: from adolescent boys to older men, educational interventions and their effectiveness
• Schools, workplaces, and community settings as sites of men’s and boys’ health promotion and education
• Health communication and patient education: tailoring messages to diverse male populations
• Digital and multimedia health education: apps, social media, online communities, and their role in reaching men
• Education and inclusion: addressing disparities in health education access and outcomes across marginalized male communities

Life Course and Structural Dimensions of Men's Health
• Identity disruption and health challenges: illness, disability, and the renegotiation of masculine selfhood
• Negotiating masculinity in health encounters: men's interactions with healthcare providers, institutions, and systems
• The “daily grind” and structural violence: how routine exposure to economic precarity, occupational hazard, and systemic inequity accumulates into health burden for men
• Life transitions and well-being: fatherhood, aging, retirement, bereavement, and other pivotal passages across the male life course
• Juxtapositions of identity and men's health: how race, class, sexuality, religion, and migration shape health trajectories and access to care

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Men’s health, masculinity, health literacy, life course, social determinants of health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.