Key takeaways
- Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA study finds Gen Z and Gen Alpha want to see caring, affectionate dads and men showing vulnerability in movies and TV, rejecting outdated masculine stereotypes.
- Joyful fatherhood was the single most requested portrayal of masculinity by adolescents surveyed by the researchers, with nearly 60% of young people asking to see more fathers openly showing love and enjoying parenting.
- 46% of respondents are seeking content that shows men asking for help, including with their mental health.
Today's youth want to see boys and men portrayed on screen showing emotional connection and vulnerability and moving away from isolation and other masculine stereotypes, according to new research from the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA.
The findings are part of CSS' Teen Snapshot series, which aims to elevate youth voices and generate actionable research-based insights for storytellers and content creators seeking to authentically represent, positively impact and capture the attention of young audiences.
The new study is a strong signal to the entertainment industry that it should be producing content for young audiences that shows men in caregiving and affectionate roles.
"Our findings reveal a profound cultural shift: Youth are craving a version of masculinity defined by emotional availability and joyful connection," said Yalda Uhls, founder and CEO of CSS, the study's senior author and adjunct professor in UCLA's psychology department. "By highlighting these narratives of partnership and care, storytellers can offer a vision of masculinity rooted in hope and love. For today's young audiences, the most compelling hero isn't the one standing alone, but the one who has the courage to be present."
Seeing "fathers enjoying parenting" and "fathers showing love to kids" were the most requested male traits by survey respondents. Across the entire sample, the desire to see nurturing fathers versus not wanting to see them was nearly 5-to-1. Among those surveyed ages 10 to 14, the demand for affectionate fatherhood was an 11-to-1 ratio. This was the case for respondents nationwide, with those in the American West leading the demand for more emotionally connected male characters, as well as mental health transparency and emotional vulnerability in men on screen.
While the survey specifically measured "fathers," the intensity of the response suggests a much broader hunger for connected masculinity overall. Young people are not just asking for better dads; they are asking for a reimagining of how men show up in the lives of others.
While the yearning for "connected masculinity" is overwhelming among Gen Alpha, it appears to become less important as youth move toward young adulthood (ages 19-24). However, the data shows that the wish for nurturing male figures does not vanish; it simply evolves. Even for the oldest group, the desire remains nearly 3-to-1.
"It might be easy for someone making a teen or young adult show to say: This really only applies to younger kids. But we see from ages 15 to 24, young people still prefer nurturing, emotionally available men, who serve as positive models of masculinity for them," said Matt Puretz, CSS senior researche and co-author of the Teen Snapshot report.
Informed by youth advisors and professional storytellers, CSS integrated targeted questions into its annual 2025 Teens & Screens survey, which surveyed 1,500 adolescents (ages 10 to 24, reflecting the ages of adolescence defined by the National Academy of Sciences) across the U.S. to understand what today's youth want to see when it comes to males on screen.
The latest research underscores CSS' long-standing commitment to helping content creators reimagine the on-screen representation of boys and men. In 2020, CSS released a foundational tip sheet for storytellers that has since moved from research labs into writers' rooms, directly influencing television production. In 2025, CSS held a narrative change-focused event in partnership with the CAA Foundation and Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, which works to promote gender equality, healthy manhood and nonviolence, bringing together legacy media creators, game developers and social media influencers to begin a conversation about building a blueprint for the representation of an evolved masculinity.
