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Facts & Statistics | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA

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Facts & Statistics | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA

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Did You Know?

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.

People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.

It's not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Find out more about depression.
Facts

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD affects 6.8 million adults, or 3.1% of the U.S. population, yet only 43.2% are receiving treatment.
Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. GAD often co-occurs with major depression.

Panic Disorder (PD)
PD affects 6 million adults, or 2.7% of the U.S. population.
Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.

Social Anxiety Disorder
SAD affects 15 million adults, or 6.8% of the U.S. population.
SAD is equally common among men and women andtypically begins around age 13. According to a 2007 ADAA survey, 36% of people with social anxiety disorder report experiencing symptoms for 10 or more years before seeking help.

Specific Phobias
Specific phobias affect 19 million adults, or 8.7% of the U.S. population.
Women are twice as likely to be affected as men.
Symptoms typically begin in childhood; the average age-of-onset is 7 years old.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are closely related to anxiety disorders, which some may experience at the same time, along with depression.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD affects 2.2 million adults, or 1.0% of the U.S. population.
OCD is equally common among men and women.
The average age of onset is 19, with 25 percent of cases occurring by age 14. One-third of affected adults first experienced symptoms in childhood.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD affects 7.7 million adults, or 3.5% of the U.S. population.
Women are more likely to be affected than men.
Rape is the most likely trigger of PTSD: 65% of men and 45.9% of women who are raped will develop the disorder.
Childhood sexual abuse is a strong predictor of lifetime likelihood for developing PTSD.

Major Depressive Disorder
The leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44.3.
MDD affects more than 16.1 million American adults, or about 6.7%of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32.5 years old.
More prevalent in women than in men.

Persistent depressive disorder, or PDD,(formerly called dysthymia) is a form of depression that usually continues for at least two years.
Affects approximately 1.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. (about 3.3 million American adults). Only 61.7% of adults with MDD are receiving treatment. The average age of onset is 31 years old.

(Source: National Institute of Mental Health)

Related Illnesses
Many people with an anxiety disorder also have a co-occurring disorder or physical illness, which can make their symptoms worse and recovery more difficult. It's essential to be treated for both disorders.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are closely related to anxiety disorders, which some may experience at the same time, along with depression.

Read on to learn more about the co-occurrence of anxiety and these disorders:

Children
Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old. Research shows that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse.

Anxiety disorders also often co-occur with other disorders such as depression, eating disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Older Adults
Anxiety is as common among older adults as among the young. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common anxiety disorder among older adults, though anxiety disorders in this population are frequently associated with traumatic events such as a fall or acute illness. Read the best way to treat anxiety disorders in older adults.

Worldwide Statistics

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Almost 75% of people with mental disorders remain untreated in developing countries with almost 1 million people taking their lives each year. In addition, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 13 globally suffers from anxiety. The WHO reports that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders worldwide with specific phobia, major depressive disorder and social phobia being the most common anxiety disorders. ²

Anxiety disorders are treatable, and the vast majority of people with an anxiety disorder can be helped with professional care. Several standard approaches have proved effective:

Learn about online therapy at BetterHelp.com.

Source:

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Did You Know? Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.

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Bushmaster Rifle Ad Reminds Us To Ask More About Masculinity And Gun Violence (PHOTO) | HuffPost

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Bushmaster Rifle Ad Reminds Us To Ask More About Masculinity And Gun Violence (PHOTO) | HuffPost

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On Friday, a young, white, suburban man left his mother's home and committed a massacre. Unfortunately, a narrative that should be shocking is starting to sound more like a tired trope. Before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was identified, we could have guessed who he'd be.

In the wake of the heartbreaking Newtown shooting, as we collectively mourn the loss of 20 young children and 7 adults, a lot of very necessary conversations have begun -- about gun control legislation and about greater federal funding for and access to mental health care. In addition to these indisputably important topics, we need to talk about this country's twisted vision of masculinity.

Of the 62 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States since 1982, 61 have been committed by men. The average age of these men was 35, and 44 of the 61 male shooters were white, according to Mother Jones. I don't believe that men are necessarily genetically predisposed to violence or that men are "worse" people than women. (In fact, recent numbers on violent crime indicate that women are slowly beginning to close the gender gap for violent crime arrests.) I do think, however, that the statistics on men who massacre say something upsetting about the way we equate masculinity with physical power. That sentiment has never been so clear as in an advertisement for the .223-calibre semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle -- the gun that 20-year-old Adam Lanza used to murder 27 people, and the civilian version of the assault rifle our troops have used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This morning author and activist Jessica Valenti tweeted an image of the ad:

The tagline reads "Consider Your Man Card Reissued." In a press release for the marketing campaign, distributed in 2010, Bushmaster Firearms explained how one becomes a "card-carrying man":

...visitors of bushmaster.com will have to prove they're a man by answering a series of manhood questions. Upon successful completion, they will be issued a temporary Man Card to proudly display to friends and family. The Man Card is valid for one year.

Visitors can also call into question or even revoke the Man Card of friends they feel have betrayed their manhood. The man in question will then have to defend himself, and their Man Card, by answering a series of questions geared towards proving indeed, they are worthy of retaining their card.

The fact that a company is selling deadly weapons based on the premise that it will up the purchaser's "man cred" is disturbing in itself. The message that it sends about what it means to be a man in America is even more so -- especially because, as Gawker reported, this campaign has been running for more than two years. Guns may not kill people (on their own), but disaffected men with easy access to guns and little understanding of how to safely and sanely express their frustrations with the world certainly do. These same men grew up in a country that glorifies male violence as entertainment. We need to start asking ourselves why we've let 30 years of mass shootings overwhelmingly committed by men occur without bothering to really question the pattern that emerges.

Of course, I'm far from the first person to point out this connection. AlterNet's Chauncey DeVega asked two days ago why we're so reluctant to "delve deeper into the relationship(s) between whiteness, masculinity, and gun violence." And in a press release for his 2008 book on the subject of hypermasculinity and violence, UCLA professor of education Douglas Kellner said: "The school shooters and domestic terrorists examined in this book all exhibit male rage, attempt to resolve a crisis of masculinity through violent behavior, demonstrate a fetish for guns or weapons, and represent, in general, a situation of guys and guns amok."

As we struggle to make sense of Friday's massacre, we need to begin bringing masculinity into our conversations. And we need to teach boys that being a "real man" means using your words instead of your fists ... or your knives ... or your semiautomatic rifles.
WATCH:

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LOOK: This Is An Ad For The Gun Adam Lanza Used

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On Friday, a young, white, suburban man left his mother's home and committed a massacre. Unfortunately, a narrative that should be shocking is starting to sound more like a tired trope. Before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was identified, we could have guessed who he'd be.

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The demographics of gun ownership in the U.S. | Pew Research Center

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The demographics of gun ownership in the U.S. | Pew Research Center

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Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project

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1. The demographics of gun ownership

Understanding gun ownership in America is not as simple as knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don't personally own guns live with someone who does or may have owned a gun in the past. And many who don't currently own a gun, including those who have never owned one, may be open to doing so in the future.

Three-in-ten American adults say they currently own a gun, and another 11% say they don't personally own a gun but live with someone who does. Among those who don't currently own a gun, about half say they could see themselves owning one in the future.

Gun ownership is more common among men than women, and white men are particularly likely to be gun owners. Among those who live in rural areas, 46% say they are gun owners, compared with 28% of those who live in the suburbs and 19% in urban areas. There are also significant differences across parties, with Republican and Republican-leaning independents more than twice as likely as Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say they own a gun (44% vs. 20%).

For many adults who own guns, exposure to guns happened at an early age. About two-thirds of current gun owners (67%) say there were guns in their household growing up, and 76% report that they first fired a gun before they were 18. While non-gun owners are less likely to have grown up in a gun-owning household, a substantial share (40%) say this is the case, and about six-in-ten (61%) say they have fired a gun.

Most gun owners cite multiple reasons for owning a gun. In fact, eight-in-ten say they have more than one reason for owning, and 44% have more than one major reason. Still, protection tops the list, with 67% of current gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun. About four-in-ten say the same about hunting (38%), while three-in-ten say sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting is a major reason they own a gun. Fewer cite a gun collection (13%) or their job (8%) as major reasons for owning a gun.

Two-thirds of gun owners say they own more than one gun, including 29% who own five or more guns. About seven-in-ten say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. Among those who own a single gun, most (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they own a rifle (22%) or a shotgun (16%).

Gun ownership is most common among men, whites

About four-in-ten adults (42%) report that there is a gun in their household, with three-in-ten saying they personally own a gun and 11% saying they don't own a gun but someone else in their household does.

Gun ownership varies considerably across demographic groups. For example, about four-in-ten men (39%) say they personally own a gun, compared with 22% of women. And while 36% of whites report that they are gun owners, about a quarter of blacks (24%) and 15% of Hispanics say they own a gun.

White men are especially likely to be gun owners: About half (48%) say they own a gun, compared with about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24% each) and 16% of nonwhite women.

Like the gender gap, the education gap in gun ownership is particularly pronounced among whites. Overall, about three-in-ten adults with a high school diploma or less (31%) and 34% of those with some college education say they own a gun; a quarter of those with a bachelor's degree or more say the same. Among whites, about four-in-ten of those with a high school diploma or less (40%) or with some college (42%) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white college graduates (26%). There is no significant difference in the rate of gun ownership across educational attainment among nonwhites.

Regionally, Northeasterners stand out as the least likely to own guns: 16% of adults who live in the Northeast say they own a gun, about half the share who say this in the South (36%), Midwest (32%) and West (31%).

Across all regions, gun ownership varies considerably between those who live in rural and urban areas, with rural dwellers far more likely than those who live in urban areas to say they own a gun. Overall, 46% of Americans who live in rural parts of the country own a gun, compared with 28% of those who live in the suburbs and 19% of those in urban areas.

Besides demographic differences, clear partisan divides emerge when it comes to gun ownership. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more than twice as likely as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to say they own a gun (44% vs. 20%). This partisan gap remains even after controlling for demographic differences.

Among the 11% of Americans who don't personally own a gun but live in a gun-owning household, relatively few (19%) say they ever use the gun or guns in their household.

Most gun owners could never see themselves not owning a gun

Roughly three-quarters of Americans who currently own a gun (73%) say they can't see themselves ever not owning one, and this is the case among majorities of gun owners across demographic groups.

Perhaps not surprisingly, those who see owning a gun as central to their overall identity are particularly committed to gun ownership. For example, 89% of gun owners who see owning a gun as very or somewhat important to their overall identity say they can't see themselves ever not owning a gun, compared with 58% of those who say owning a gun is not too important or not at all important their sense of identity.

And while 85% of gun owners who say the right to own guns is essential to their sense of freedom say they can't see themselves ever not owning a gun at some point, 41% of those who don't see the right to own guns as essential say the same.

Many non-gun owners are open to owning a gun in the future

In addition to the three-in-ten adults who currently own a gun, another 10% say they have owned one in the past; 58% say they have never owned a gun.

Many adults who don't currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one at some point. In fact, 52% of all non-gun owners - and 71% of those who have owned a gun in the past - say they could see themselves owning a gun in the future.

Consistent with patterns in gun ownership, a higher share of men than women who don't currently own guns say they could see themselves doing so at some point; 62% of men who don't own guns say this is the case, compared with 45% of women. And while 62% of non-gun owners who live in rural areas say they could see themselves owning a gun at some point, smaller shares of those who live in a suburban (49%) or urban (50%) areas say the same.

Two-thirds of gun owners cite protection as a major reason for owning a gun

Most gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun, but protection tops the list, with 67% of gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun. About four-in-ten (38%) say hunting is a major reason they own a gun, while three-in-ten cite sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting. Fewer gun owners cite a gun collection (13%) or their job (8%) as major reasons.

Men and women are about equally likely to say protection is a major reason they own a gun: 65% and 71%, respectively, say this is the case. But higher shares of male than female gun owners say hunting (43% of men vs. 31% of women) and sport shooting (34% vs. 23%) are major reasons they personally own a gun.

For the most part, gun owners in urban, suburban and rural areas offer similar reasons for owning guns. For example, about seven-in-ten of those who live in urban or suburban areas say protection is a major reason they own a gun (71% each), as do most gun owners in rural parts of the country (62%). And across community types, about three-in-ten cite sport shooting as a major reason.

When it comes to hunting, however, rural gun owners are far more likely than their urban or suburban counterparts to say it is as an important reason they own a gun; 48% of gun owners in rural areas say this, compared with 34% in the suburbs and 27% in urban parts of the country.

Interestingly, gun owners who see their local community as unsafe are not significantly more likely than those who say they live in a safe community to say protection is central to why they own a gun. About three-quarters of gun owners who say the community where they live is not too safe or not at all safe (74%) - and 66% of those who say they live in a community that is very or somewhat safe - cite protection as a major reason they own gun. There is a significant link, however, between owning a gun for protection and perceptions of whether the world, broadly speaking, has become more dangerous. While about seven-in-ten gun owners who say the world has become more dangerous cite protection as a major reason they own a gun (72%), half of those who don't see the world that way say protection is central to why they own a gun. Overall, 69% of all U.S. adults - and 75% of those who own a gun - say the world has become a more dangerous place.

About two-thirds of gun owners own more than one gun

Most gun owners (66%) say they own more than one gun, with about three-in-ten (29%) saying they own five or more guns. This is, perhaps, not surprising, considering that eight-in-ten gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun - including 44% who say there is more than one major reason - and may need different types of guns for different purposes. In fact, most gun owners who cite only one reason for owning a gun say they own a single gun (65%); in contrast, 74% of those who say they own a gun for more than one reason report having at least two guns.

Men are particularly likely to own multiple guns: About three-quarters of male gun owners (74%) say they own two or more guns, compared with 53% of female gun owners. This reflects, in part, the fact that men who own guns are more likely than their female counterparts to have more than one reason for doing so. Still, even after controlling for the number of reasons they own a gun, male gun owners remain more likely than their female counterparts to own multiple guns.

Overall, about seven-in-ten gun owners say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. While similar shares of male and female gun owners own a handgun (73% and 71%, respectively), rifles and shotgun are more popular among men. Roughly seven-in-ten male gun owners (69%) say they own a rifle and 60% own a shotgun, compared with 50% and 44% of women who own each type of gun, respectively.

Among gun owners with only one gun, handguns are by far the most common type of gun: 62% say this is the type of gun they own, while 22% own a rifle and 16% own a shotgun.

Most gun owners say there were guns in their household growing up

Adults who describe the community where they grew up as rural are particularly likely to have grown up with a gun in their household: 72% in this group say this is the case. Still, a substantial share of those who grew up in a small town (52%), a suburb (37%) or a city (39%) say guns were present in their home when they were growing up.

Regardless of the type of community they lived in growing up, adults who grew up with guns in their households are far more likely than those who did not to be gun owners themselves. About four-in-ten who grew up in a gun-owning household say they currently own a gun (42%), compared with 19% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household. While this difference is most pronounced among those who grew up in rural areas - 48% of those who grew up with guns now own a gun vs. 12% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household - it is also evident among those who grew up in small towns, suburbs or cities.

Among non-gun owners, about six-in-ten of those who grew up in a gun-owning household say they could see themselves owning a gun at some point (61%). Of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household, smaller shares say the same (46%).

Reasons for having had guns in the household growing up vary considerably across community type. For example, eight-in-ten adults who grew up in a gun-owning household in a rural area cite hunting as a reason there were guns in their household, while fewer cite protection (57%) or sport shooting (51%). In contrast, seven-in-ten of those who grew up in a gun-owning household in a city say there were guns in their household for protection; about half cite hunting (51%) or sport shooting (50%) as reasons there were guns in their household growing up.

Protection is cited far more often by adults younger than 30 than their older counterparts as a reason there were guns in their household growing up. About eight-in-ten young adults who grew up in a gun-owning household (79%) say this was a reason, compared with 66% of those ages 30 to 49, 60% of those ages 50 to 64, and just 34% of those ages 65 and older.

By contrast, older Americans who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more likely than younger adults who grew up with guns to point to hunting as a reason guns were present in their household. About eight-in-ten of those ages 65 and older (84%) and 73% of those ages 50 to 64 cite hunting as a reason; a narrower majority of adults ages 30 to 49 who grew up in a gun-owning household (60%) and about half of those younger than 30 (52%) cite hunting.

Higher shares of men than women who grew up with guns in the household say they participated in certain gun-related activities

While men and women are equally likely to say there were guns in their household growing up, men who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more likely than their female counterparts to say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing up. About half of men who grew up with guns in their homes say they went hunting often (27%) or sometimes (23%). Among women who grew up in a gun-owning household, about one-in-five (22%) say they went hunting at least sometimes when they were growing up, while most say they hardly ever (18%) or never (61%) did this.

Men who grew up in a gun-owning household are also more likely than women who grew up with guns in their homes to say they went shooting or to a gun range growing up, though relatively few men or women say they did this often (13% and 7%, respectively). About four-in-ten men who grew up in a gun-owning household (44%) say they went shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes when they were growing up, while about a quarter of women (27%) say the same.

Among adults who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household, few say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing up. But men who didn't grow up with guns are somewhat more likely than women who didn't grow up with guns to say they participated in these activities at least sometimes. One-in-ten men who didn't grow up with guns in their household say they went hunting often or sometimes, compared with 5% of women. And while 16% of men in this group went shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes when they were growing up, even smaller shares of women did so (6%).

When it comes to airsoft guns, such as paintball, BB or pellet guns, 57% of men - including 72% of those who grew up with guns in their household and 42% of those who didn't - say they used them often or sometimes when they were growing up. Just 20% of women say they used airsoft guns at least sometimes when they were growing up.

Gun ownership tends to happen at an earlier age for those who grew up with guns in their household

Among all current and past gun owners, the average age at which Americans say they first became gun owners is 22 years. Nearly four-in-ten current or past gun owners (37%) report that they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun.

Current or past gun-owners who grew up with guns in their household report that they first became gun owners at an earlier age than those who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household.

About half of those who grew up with guns (47%) say they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun, compared with 19% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household.

Among men who own or have owned a gun and who grew up in a gun-owning household, 61% say they personally became gun owners before they turned 18; a quarter of women in the same group say they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun. On average, men who grew up in a gun-owning household report that they first got their own gun when they were 17, compared with an average age of 26 for women who grew up with guns in their household.

Overall, men who currently own guns or who have done so in the past report that they first became gun owners at age 19, on average; for women who own or previously owned guns, that age is 27.

Most Americans say they have fired a gun at some point

About seven-in-ten adults (72%) say they have fired a gun at some point in their lives. While this is particularly the case among those who own or have owned a gun (95%), about half of those who have never personally owned a gun say they have fired one (55%).

Large majorities of about nine-in-ten or more among current and past gun owners say they have fired a gun, and this is true across demographic groups. Among those who have never owned a gun, however, there are some significant demographic differences in the shares who say they have fired one. In many ways, these differences mirror the patterns in gun ownership.

For example, men who have never owned a gun are more likely than their female counterparts to say they have fired one (64% vs. 50%). About two-thirds (68%) of whites who have never owned a gun say they have fired one at some point, compared with 32% of blacks and 35% of Hispanics who have never owned a gun. And while 68% of those who live in rural areas who have never owned a gun say they have fired one, about half of those who live in urban (48%) or suburban (56%) areas have had this experience.

Among adults who have never personally owned a gun, seven-in-ten of those who grew up with guns in their household say they have fired a gun at some point, compared with 47% of those who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household. Whether they have or have not personally owned a gun, the average age at which those who grew up with guns in the household say they first fired a gun is 14 years, compared with 20 years among those who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household.

Men who grew up in a gun-owning household report that they first fired a gun when they were, on average, 12 years old. Among women who grew up with guns in their household, the average age at which they first fired a gun is 17.

Most Americans say society has a negative view of gun owners, but that people in their own communities look at gun owners is a positive way

A majority of Americans say that society tends to have a negative view of gun owners, a perception that is somewhat more common among non-gun owners than among those who own a gun. About six-in-ten Americans who don't own a gun (61%) say society has a negative view of gun owners, while 38% say society's views are generally positive. Opinions are more mixed among gun owners themselves: 54% say society tends to have a negative view and 45% say it has a positive view of most gun owners.

Americans have a different assessment of how people in their own communities view gun owners. Most (61%) say people in their community generally view gun owners in a positive way, and this is particularly the case among those who live in rural communities. About eight-in-ten adults who live in a rural area (79%) say people in their community generally have a positive view of gun owners; just 47% of those in urban areas say the same about people in their community.

Gun owners are far more likely than non-gun owners to say people in their community look at most gun owners in a positive way; 78% of gun owners say this is the case, compared with 53% of non-gun owners. Assessments vary between gun owners and those who don't own guns across community types, but differences are particularly pronounced among those who live in urban or suburban areas.

For example, while 66% of urban gun owners say people in their community generally have a positive view of most gun owners, less than half of those who do not own guns in urban areas say this is the case (42%). In rural areas, gun owners are somewhat more likely than those who don't own guns to say people in their community look at gun owners in a positive way, but majorities of both groups offer this assessment (85% and 74%, respectively).

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The demographics of gun ownership in the U.S.

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Understanding gun ownership in America is not as simple as knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don't personally own guns live with someone who does or may have owned a gun in the past.

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Gun control: why the walkouts and marches need boys - Vox

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Gun control: why the walkouts and marches need boys - Vox

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"Students shouldn't have to see cops cleaning up a crime scene," Edwin Soto, 16, read from his cellphone in front of about 200 of his classmates at Bronx Academy of Letters last Wednesday. "I'm tired of people not making it to see 17."

Soto was reading a poem he'd written for his school's walkout, one of thousands of events organized on March 14 around the country to protest gun violence in the wake of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

As Soto and other students read poems and speeches, many students gathered in a circle around them, listening closely. Some embraced. Others jostled, joked, and yelled at each other, teenagers released from class on a sunny morning.

As one boy spoke, other boys began wrestling. The contrast - some boys deeply engaged in the moment, others horsing around - was emblematic of a dynamic playing out around the country right now.

Some boys and young men have played key roles in the youth movement against gun violence, which has gained a new level of attention since the Parkland shooting. But some organizers say that as young people around the country rally to the cause, girls are stepping up at a higher rate than boys.

It's good news that girls and women are taking leadership roles in the fight against gun violence, especially since they remain underrepresented in national politics. But boys and men can't leave all the work to them.

Young people are getting ready for another demonstration on Saturday, the March for Our Lives, with protests planned in Washington, DC, and cities across the country. If it is to succeed, this ongoing youth movement against gun violence needs the voices of boys - to talk to other boys, to examine their own assumptions, and to work against expectations of male behavior that hurt everyone. And for the boys who join in, the movement could help them learn to cope with their own emotions in a healthier way than they're often allowed.

Boys aren't getting as involved as girls

Male survivors of the Parkland shooting, like Cameron Kasky and David Hogg, have become visible advocates against gun violence in recent weeks. But some organizers say that elsewhere, boys have less interest in getting involved in the movement.

Nashalie Robledo, 17, one of the organizers of the Bronx Letters walkout, said that she and two other girls planned the school's event. No boys helped in the early stages. And during the walkout, she pointed out, a few boys went across the athletic field to play basketball.

"It's kind of plain disrespect to those who not only lost their lives but to those who are committed to this," she said.

At Bronx Letters, a public school serving about 600 sixth- to 12th-graders in New York City's poorest school district, students had left class with school permission to attend a demonstration on the athletic field. The event, organized by Robledo, Aileen Villa, 18, and Isis Brache, 17 - lasted 17 minutes, to commemorate the 17 students killed in Parkland.

Quite a few boys participated in the walkout, but even some of them said they felt that speaking up about their feelings meant bucking expectations placed on them because of their gender.

Soto, who read the poem, said he feels pressure as a boy "to act a certain way."

"We've always gotta act tough. We can't show emotions. We've gotta be the alpha male," he said. "It shouldn't be that way."

Activist boys and young men from other schools agreed.

"I do think that girls and women are more interested in activism, at least within my own school," said Kaleab Jegol, 17, a male senior at a high school near Cincinnati who also works on community outreach for the Women's March.

Seven of the nine organizers of Jegol's school's walkout on Wednesday were girls, he said. A lot of boys at his school shy away from activism, he said, "because it involves having to speak out and speak about the things that you believe in."

"There's definitely many, many, many more girls getting involved in many of these movements than boys," said Ziad Ahmed, a 19-year-old freshman at Yale University and a youth adviser for the Women's March who also started a social justice advocacy organization called Redefy.

The reason for the disparity, he said, "has to do with this caricature that we paint and construct from a very young age in terms of what a boy should be."

"A boy should spend his summers playing sports rather than engaging in service or academic or activist work," he said. "A boy should be doing things that are physical, or manly, or masculine, rather than deconstructing systems of privilege that they may benefit from."

Gender stereotypes play a role in gun violence

Boys across America today learn that guns are part of male identity, in part because the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers have specifically targeted men with advertising and other messages in recent years.

One example: An ad campaign for Bushmaster, the company that made one of the guns used in the Sandy Hook shooting, featured an image of a rifle and the words, "Consider your man card reissued." The campaign also included a website - which was apparently disabled soon after the shooting - on which visitors could "call into question or even revoke the Man Card of friends they feel have betrayed their manhood," according to a company press release.

Jonathan Metzl, a professor of sociology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University who has studied gun violence, said this sales pitch has become ingrained in how some men see themselves.

"There is a particular form of masculinity that's been very consciously cultivated and constructed by the corporate gun lobby over the past decades," he explained.

Men are embracing the message. American men are more likely to own a gun than women - according to a 2017 Pew report, 39 percent of men said they personally owned a gun compared with 22 percent of women. According to a survey conducted in 2015 by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities, around 3 percent of American adults own half of the nation's nonmilitary guns.

Male gun owners are also more likely than their female counterparts to own multiple guns - 74 percent of male gun owners have two or more guns compared with 53 percent of female gun owners. And male gun owners are more likely than female owners to say a gun is both loaded and easily accessible to them at all times when they're at home.

Meanwhile, 86 percent of those killed by guns every year are male, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Men account for 87 percent of firearm suicides, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Given all this, it's especially important for boys and men to be involved in work against gun violence. Since men are more likely to own guns and more likely to be victims of gun violence, "boys have the most to lose" if the status quo doesn't change, Metzl said.

Boys can play a key role in challenging the gender stereotypes promulgated by gun groups, he added. The boys involved in the anti-violence movement now are "modeling new forms of masculinity," he said. "Pushing back against this idea that to be a man, you need a gun is very, very powerful at this moment."

Getting more boys involved can be a matter of strategy

Including boys' voices in gun control advocacy doesn't mean forcing girls to step back. "This work needs all of us," Ahmed, the Yale freshman, said. "We all have something we can contribute."

Convincing boys and men to contribute can be a matter of trying out new strategies. Redefy, the organization he founded, was getting many more applications from young women than young men, he said. So they decided to employ some new outreach tactics. Rather than focusing only on the organization's social justice goals, "We started saying, you like to code, come code for us," or "you like to write, come write for us."

"We decided to find the intersection of your interests and our work," Ahmed explained.

For the organization Men Can Stop Rape, which works with men to prevent domestic violence, including gun violence, as well as sexual assault, bringing men into the conversation means "trying to meet men where they are," said Neil Irvin, the group's executive director.

That can mean acknowledging that guns are legal in America and are part of cultures of hunting and target shooting. It can mean tailoring messages about responsible gun ownership specifically to members of the military. "For us, it's always an honest conversation," said Irvin: "How do guns exist in your community?"

For others, pushing back against stereotypes around masculinity is a matter of modeling new behaviors. Bronx Letters principal Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, who wore a T-shirt reading "This is what a feminist looks like" on the day of the walkout, said messages about masculinity in the media and elsewhere help create a culture "that stops our boys from being feeling-focused."

Cardet-Hernandez tries to combat that with his daily behavior, frequently saying, "I love you" to students. "I lead with that kind of language, and it is often flowery and complimentary," he said. "The intended outcome is that translates into the way we are all communicating with each other."

To help boys at his school combat expectations around masculinity, Soto suggested a discussion group, a place "to just let them know that you could show love, not to be so closed in."

The organizers of the walkout praised Soto and the other boys who participated and said they'd welcome more boys getting involved in their cause.

"I believe that the more people involved, the better," Robledo said. But if not enough boys and men step up, "women are going to have to do what they have to do to keep it going."

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"Students shouldn't have to see cops cleaning up a crime scene," Edwin Soto, 16, read from his cellphone in front of about 200 of his classmates at Bronx Academy of Letters last Wednesday. "I'm tired of people not making it to see 17."

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We Need Gun Control. We Also Must Address Toxic Masculinity – Youth Radio

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We Need Gun Control. We Also Must Address Toxic Masculinity – Youth Radio

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As I read about Nikolas Cruz's passion for guns, I was not surprised. As an American teenage boy, the gross glorification of violence, weapons, and arms in our culture is not the least bit surprising. In fact, it's deeply entrenched into the idea of American masculinity, beginning as early as in elementary school.

It's not my intention to categorically stereotype men and boys, specific activities, or "masculine" interests, but rather - I write this piece in order to confront a reality that toxic masculinity is a cultural problem that makes our country less safe.

The United States of America has a massive gun violence problem that is underscored by a series of statistics, including our dramatically high rates of mass shootings and homicides by firearm.

The public health crisis that is gun violence is largely fueled by our government's negligence, inaction, and greed, but as underscored by relatively low male participation in movements to demand gun control as well as by disproportionate rates of male gun ownership and violence.

Toxic masculinity further fuels the problem.

If we are interested in making our country safer, it's necessary for boys and men to follow the lead of those - many of whom are women of color - who have built the movements to demand gun control. Furthermore, it's vital that boys and men evaluate how toxic masculinity is fueling an American culture of violence.

I grew up in a household of all girls, playing Barbies. It actually wasn't until I started school that I realized that most boys didn't play with Barbies - that instead we were expected to enjoy wrestling.

In middle school, it became impossible to hang out with any of my male peers without a first-person shooter game being played. Images of guns, death, and violence began to be normalized in our consciousness starting at around the age of 10.

It was as if our coolness was a measure of our body count in Call of Duty. It was as if our masculinity was a measure of how quickly we could identify different guns. It was as if simulating death, destruction, and violence was cool - was normal.

But it isn't normal when boys stare at guns and death all day through video games and are expected to enjoy it in order to be "masculine."

And it wasn't just the video games - it isn't just the video games. It was the BB guns, paintball games, and the wrestling matches - all of it.

We are systematically teaching our boys to be violent. It isn't genetic, it's systemic.

I chose to sit out the violence, thoroughly preferring Webkinz or chatting with the girls during recess to wrestling, violent video games, or the latest game that simulated war. I was called gay, weird, and weak because of it. Repeatedly. I still am, even today.

In America today, we have conflated violence and militarism with masculinity. As we mourn the deaths in Parkland, that is a reality that we must confront.

There is no reason that we should be teaching our boys that they need to fight, to shoot guns, and to be violent in order to be "real men." There is no reason that the toys that are accessible to children should be reflective of a gender norm that perpetuates violence.

If one (irrespective of gender or conditioning) genuinely likes playing with Nerf guns or certain video games, that is one thing, but it's another to expect every boy to enjoy violence in order to be considered properly a boy, and to systematically teach one gender that violence is an acceptable means to solve conflicts.

When boys are simultaneously taught that tears are not "manly" and that taking someone behind the bleachers is a legitimate way of handling problems, it creates a culture in which boys may feel that they must be aggressive to overcome their insecurity, which can provoke the violence that we are seeking to eradicate.

As we are outraged by the school shooting in Parkland, we must also be outraged by a system and culture that teaches our boys that posting Instagram pictures with knives, guns, and hate symbols is cool, masculine, and normal.

We absolutely need #GunControlNow, but we also need overwhelming reform in our culture, commercialism, and conversation. The way that we gender our culture is promoting violence, and we all have a role to play in dismantling that patriarchy to create a better, safer world.

We must be calling our representatives to call for #GunControlNow, marching to put pressure on our politicians (following the incredible lead of the #MSDStrong), and using social media to demand #EnoughIsEnough, but we also must take a moment to think critically about the ways that gender roles are promoting violence and to evaluate our own roles in this problem. And we must be willing to follow the lead of women to dismantle toxic and fragile masculinity.

If we care about making this country safer, this must be a top priority. We don't need our political representatives for this change. This is on us.

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We Need Gun Control. We Also Must Address Toxic Masculinity

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Share this story: As I read about Nikolas Cruz's passion for guns, I was not surprised. As an American teenage boy, the gross glorification of violence, weapons, and arms in our culture is not the least bit surprising. In fact, it's deeply entrenched into the idea of American masculinity, beginning as early as in elementary school.