Results demonstrated the benefits of social support on well-being using the stress-buffer and main effects models, within a sample of rural men, and explored the relatively unexamined relationship between sense of community and well-being. Rural men have considerable stress impacting their well-being. This study identifies that it is critical for individuals, organisations and policy makers to be aware of the capacity of both social supports and sense of community to buffer stress and promote well-being within rural men. Furthermore, structural, community-based approaches might have greater capacity to cost-effectively provide this support, contrasting with the growing trend towards individual-based approaches for mental health.

There has been an increase in both rural and urban young male mental health literacy between 1998 and 2008, especially in rural young men. Whether this will translate into a reduction of depression and associated suicide, with a reversal of the rural/urban suicide differential, remains to be seen.