The importance of role models for girls seems irrefutable. Efforts since the 1990s to provide female role models have had great success opening doors for girls and young women, who now outpace boys in education, outnumber men in law and medical schools and excel in male-dominated fields like tech and politics.

At the same time, boys have many fewer male role models in their daily lives. While men still fill most positions of power across American society, the people who interact with children are largely women. Occupations like pediatrics have switched to mostly being done by women, while those that were always female-dominated, like teaching, have become more so.

At a crucial time in their lives, boys are increasingly cared for by women, especially the many boys whose fathers aren’t a regular presence. This lack of male role models, say researchers, parents, young men and those who work with them, is contributing to their struggles in school and employment — and the overall feeling that they’re adrift.

Working with children has long been considered women’s work, and as a result, has been undervalued, with low pay and a stigma against men doing it. The share of professional men in children’s lives has decreased even more in recent decades.

Over roughly the same period, single-mother households became more common. Mentorship groups say they struggle to find as many male volunteers as there are boys who need them. And as families have become more insular — participation in community groups and churches has declined, and children spend less time playing outside with neighbors — children get to know fewer adults.