Reply #1: Pretty accurate--with one caveat.

[Bicoastal]

Men aren't necessarily happier--at the same time that society gives them all the leeway you just mentioned, society also expects them to tamp down their feelings and emotions and never vent them--in another words, to "Be a Man" about it.

A lot of American men are desperately unhappy, but for whatever ingrained reason, they can't bring themselves to let anybody KNOW about it. So they either suppress these feelings for years (often with the help of drugs or alcohol) or suddenly snap (like that wretched 19-year-old in Omaha this last week.) Come to think of it, have you noticed how nearly all of our country's shooting-sprees and serial killings are committed by extraordinarily unhappy MEN?!

Probably that's he one clear advantage women have over men in our society--the freedom to be more open about their insecurities.