Part A: How do grandfathers describe their role in supporting the mental wellbeing of their male grandchildren?

Objectives: Grandparents are increasingly involved in the lives of young people, yet the unique role of grandfathers remains underexplored, particularly in relation to mental wellbeing. Young males face well-documented barriers to emotional disclosure and help-seeking, rooted in masculine socialisation. The grandfather–grandson relationship represents a potentially significant yet poorly understood relational context for supporting male mental wellbeing. This study explored how grandfathers describe their role in supporting the mental wellbeing of their male grandchildren.

Methods: Eight grandfathers, including one grandfather figures, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within a social constructionist epistemological framework.

Results: Three themes were constructed. The first, Being there as a secure relational presence, described how grandfathers constructed emotional availability and low-pressure engagement as foundational to wellbeing support. The second, Connecting through doing, explored how shared activities functioned as relational mediums for connection, with grandfathers adaptively recalibrating activities across their grandsons' development. The third, Construction of the grandfather role, examined how grandfathering was morally and biographically situated, and negotiated within familial and structural boundaries.

Conclusions: The findings construct the grandfather–grandson relationship as a distinctive relational space that is trusted enough to carry emotional significance yet sufficiently removed from parental authority to be approached differently. Grandfathering is interpreted as a form of communal generativity, enacting autonomy-supportive care that quietly negotiates dominant masculine constraints around emotional expression. The relationship may represent a naturally occurring and underutilised resource in supporting the mental wellbeing of young males. Implications are considered for family, educational, and mental health practitioners, as well as for the design of intergenerational programmes. Future research should seek more diverse samples, incorporate grandsons' perspectives, and explore longitudinal outcomes.

Part B: A thematic analysis of UK newspaper articles discussing male mental health and the manosphere.

Objectives: Young men's mental health in the UK represents an urgent public health concern, with suicide remaining the leading cause of death for those aged 5–35, and masculine gender norms identified as key barriers to help-seeking. Within this context, the manosphere has emerged as an influential ideological environment for distressed young men, yet its portrayal in mainstream media remains underexplored. Following the cultural mainstreaming of the manosphere in 2025, this study examined how UK newspaper articles construct the manosphere and its relationship with young men's mental health.

Methods: A reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was conducted on a purposive sample of 20 UK newspaper articles published in 2025, identified through Nexis Advance using search terms linking the manosphere to young men and mental health. A social constructionist epistemological position was adopted.

Results: Two overarching themes were identified. First, newspapers positioned young men as psychologically vulnerable and socially disconnected, framing the manosphere as both a response to and an amplifier of that vulnerability, while a competing construction suggested psychologically secure young men could engage critically with its content. Second, newspapers constructed social change and collective responsibility as the primary response to the manosphere's harms. Formal mental health services were notably absent from both constructions.

Conclusions: Findings suggest public discourse frames the manosphere primarily as a social and safeguarding problem rather than a clinical one. Implications for clinical psychology practice, early intervention, and evidence-based engagement with public discourse are discussed.

Part C: Clinical experience and assessments summary

Table summarising clinical experience and assessments undertaken.