Unpacking the Man Box is based on a survey of 1,000 young Australian men aged 18 to 30. The report builds on the findings of The Men’s Project’s 2018 report The Man Box.

The study compared men’s belief in outdated gender stereotypes – such as men having to be the breadwinner – with other factors such as their age, where they live, their employment status, cultural background, education level and sexuality.

This study quantifies the unique influence of young men’s personal endorsement of the Man Box masculinity pillars on different areas of their lives, including:

• mental health, wellbeing and help seeking from friends/professionals;
• body satisfaction;
• relationship satisfaction;
• binge drinking;
• traffic accidents;
• accessing pornography; and
• physical violence, sexual harassment and bullying.

The study uses regression analyses to determine the unique contribution of Man Box attitudes (and the separate Man Box pillars described above) to the well-being of young men, including controlling for demographic factors that may also shape well-being.