- Only one in 20 men over 45 now volunteer at local clubs and schools
- Collapse in numbers of 10-15 year-old boys saying they are happy with their lives
- All teenagers to have a ‘right to sport’ at school to tackle screen time and stop youngsters turning to online ‘Manosphere’
- New youth fund backed by wealthy charity donors to help boys re-engage with society
The disappearance of male role models is creating a generation of unhappy young boys, warns a new report.
Fewer than one in ten men help out in sports and leisure clubs as evidence mounts of a generation of “lost boys” cut adrift from adult society and falling drastically short at school and the workplace.
The alarming findings come from a new report, Lost Boys: Mentors and Role Models, from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Its previous study highlighted the way girls are outperforming boys at every level and revealed that the so-called “gender pay gap” has been reversed in recent years.
Against the background of high levels of family breakdown, the CSJ reveals that the retreat of men from volunteering at sports or community organisations further deprives boys of mentors they can respect and seek to emulate.
Polling carried out by Whitestone Insight for the CSJ found that among men aged over 45 only one in 20 are currently involved in a sports club, a figure that plunges to one in 100 in some parts of the country.
CSJ analysis of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey found a sharp decline in well-being among boys. Only one in four (27 per cent) boys aged 10-15 said they were ‘completely happy’ with life – compared with one in three (36 per cent) some 15 years ago.
In a foreword to the report, philanthropist and businessman, John Roberts, CEO of leading British retailer AO, says it is time for men to step up.
“This report is a clarion call for more men to get involved to provide the role models thousands of lost boys and young men are desperately crying out for.”
The CSJ findings are backed up by a consultation with 100 small charities across the country working with young people.
The report says: “They drew our attention to unique issues boys in a modern world face, including a crisis of masculinity and the difficulty with which young boys and men have defining the values by which they wish to live.
“They also pointed to the challenge of fatherlessness and the resulting lack of role models in their lives. Indeed, more young boys grow up with a smartphone than a father figure in the home.
“Failing to take part in outdoor activities where boys experience growth – inducing setbacks and learn key skills, such as emotional resilience, from the organic role models around them only serves to compound this challenge.
“One of the most valuable lessons that sport can teach us is how to lose and then carry on.“
The report says that youth services have been depleted in recent years – with one thousand fewer youth clubs today than there were 15 years ago, and the number of youth workers has fallen by over one third to just 1,662.
The loss of youth spaces has had significant negative repercussions on communities, with youth offending rates rising and GCSE results declining in areas where youth centres have closed.
The report argues that the withdrawal from spending time outdoors is among the most damaging social trends affecting boys today and leads to “growth-inducing setbacks… such as emotional resilience”.
It adds that sport plays a vital role in helping boys develop these valuable life lessons.
Sports clubs are also highlighted as some of the most important places where boys encounter positive adult role models. Without these opportunities, the CSJ warns, “too many of our young boys don’t experience the same socialisation and learning opportunities as previous generations.”
Edward Davies, Director of Research at the CSJ, said:
“All the current concern around malign online influences and the manosphere rings hollow if we do not offer an alternative. Boys need a roadmap to becoming a man and if they don’t see it in their lives we cannot be surprised if they look elsewhere.
“Youth organisations, sports clubs and charities told us they need more men involved. The best defence against the manosphere isn’t regulatory whack-a-mole, it’s giving boys good role models in the real world. Men themselves need to step up to that plate. Governments can’t do it for them.”
The report calls for an ambitious series of reforms that will support boys and young men to re-engage with society. Recommendations include:
- A new Right to Sport for all secondary school pupils with two hours of after school physical activity each week.
- A new National Youth Infrastructure Fund – with ministers matching charity donations – to support long-term stable funding for youth services.
- A new National Youth Infrastructure Fund – with ministers matching charity donations – to support long-term stable funding for youth services.
