It’s hard to say. I can think of a few possibilities, but I don’t have hard facts to back them up. One possibility is that society has become a much more crude and vulgar. People just seem to be angrier and meaner to each other. Few people have any manners. You have to have a thick skin these days, but some people haven’t developed this skill. They don’t respond well to all the verbal attacks and criticism.
Another possibility is how the media tries to feminize men. Men are taught to be more sensitive and understanding. At the same time, men are still expected to be strong leaders. Being a strong leader, making bold decisions, and speaking with authority all lead to more potential negative attention. But the men are taught to be sensitive. Rather than putting up their guard, they absorb the negativity and believe it more. They lose self-esteem and feel worthless. That leads straight to mental illness.
As others wrote, social media might cause problems. People only post the best things about themselves, so they appear perfect online. Then when people compare themselves to those online, they never measure up. Social media also exposes people to others they would probably never have met before. For example, a person might see a CEO on twitter and feel bad that they aren’t as successful. Years ago, that person would probably have never met the CEO and never know someone else was more successful. Social media leads to greater competition and tension. People feel like if they don’t keep up, they will be left behind.
A fourth possibility is the economy/jobs. It’s pretty easy to get a job these days but harder to move up in companies. There’s a large number of people working jobs outside their careers as well as many people working part time that want to work full time. At the same time, the cost of living has increased, so it’s harder for people to support themselves. There’s a lot more roommates having to live together or adult children living with parents. They see others living independent lives and feel bad about where they are at. This problem seems to be affecting men more than women. Women are graduating at higher rates, working at higher rates, and becoming independent sooner. It’s different at the top, where men still dominate, but at the bottom, women are succeeding more than men.
The last possibility I can think of is parenting. A lot of parents don’t really care about their children. They have their own interests and do the minimum for their children. They send them to school and buy them the basic stuff they need, but they don’t spend time with the children, teach them basic skills or values. As you can imagine, these children grow up not prepared at all for independent life. Suddenly, all these responsibilities are thrown on them at once, and they can’t take it. If they were exposed more slowly over the years by their parents, they would handle it much more easily. Also, so many families do not have a father living in the household. This could be the cause of men having more trouble these days.
Statistically, at least one of those sets of “parents” will remarry again.