White Men = Bad Health

White men should be the ones who live the longest. They are the richest so therefore can afford the best health care, they are over-represented in health studies so therefore the results should apply best to them, and they are highly educated. Yet they die younger than almost every other demographic with the notable exception of black men. 

Conventional wisdom holds that social standing and economic stability tend to manifest as long life, good health and optimal wellbeing. In the U.S., the subpopulation holding the most such power and footing is White men. Therefore, White men should evidence longer lives, better health and superior wellbeing compared with all other subgroups. 

As it turns out, the syllogism isn’t even close to being reflected in reality. 

Why? According to the article maybe because:

1. White male bodies have been the (often unnamed) standard in biomedical research, but this approach fails to consider how gender and other structural factors affect White men’s health.
2. Related to well-being, White Americans report less satisfaction with their number of friends than do Black and Latino Americans.
3. In a nation that has yielded them myriad political, economic and social advantages, it is paradoxical that White men do not experience the best health relative to women and minoritized racial and gender groups. 
4. There is a potential health penalty associated with being in the most socially dominant racialized and gendered group in a nation where structural inequality thrives. 

Or maybe it is because men are stressed out from having to live up to the gendered stereotype of being a "good provider" and over pay when it comes to divorce. The later is no doubt at least part of the reason their suicide rate is so high.