Bingo.

You might not know this, but in sociological literature, I recall hearing about findings that men don't live as long after being widowed as women do. Marriage in general is a predictor of a longer life — but it has stronger benefits for men than for women, in that women are apparently more capable of surviving without it. (Interesting, particularly for the fact that women are the ones who get stereotyped as being DESPERATE for commitment.)

As I've always understood the widowhood-survival gap, it's because social support in general is a big factor in a healthy life, and women are more socialized to be able to FIND emotional intimacy and support beyond their partners — and not just support for things like breakups, but for life's spectrum of emotional experiences in general. Men in hetero pairings, however, primarily lean on (and sometimes drain...) their female partners in order to fill their emotional wells — and don't really lean on anyone else besides. So, basically, men aren't as equipped as women are to live without a mate (emotionally speaking; not biologically speaking) — and it kills them.

The fix, then, is to teach men to be brave enough to get vulnerable (NOT just with the woman they happen to be fucking) — and, in turn, to be comfortable with others' vulnerability. Without those traits, emotionally intimate connections can't form... and this deficit will continue to hurt them. :-/