Research in the psychology of men and masculinity using the gender role strain paradigm as a framework

This article introduces the specialty area of the psychology of men and masculinity to the broader community of American psychologists, focusing on research conducted using the gender role strain paradigm. The review covers the rationale for and aims of the psychology of men and masculinity and the gender role strain paradigm. It provides an extensive discussion of masculinity ideologies--the core construct in the strain paradigm--including the definition of masculinity ideology and considerations of masculinity ideology versus masculinity ideologies, traditional masculinity ideology, the measurement of masculinity ideologies, the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised, women's and adolescent's masculinity ideologies, and conformity to masculine norms. It then takes up the 3 types of masculine gender role strain (discrepancy, dysfunction, and trauma) and the normative male alexithymia hypothesis. Finally, it considers future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

Men and masculinities: Scales for masculinity ideology and masculinity-related constructs

11 instruments for assessing beliefs and attitudes about men or masculinity standards (masculinity ideology) and 6 instruments that assess first-person accounts of gender role conflict, stress, or conformity to masculinity ideology are evaluated in this review. The 17 instruments were all developed in the past 2 decades and peer reviewed, and are readily accessible. An introductory section distinguishes between gender ideology and gender orientation and defines the scope of the first set of 11 scales as indexing the extent to which subjects accept the ideas and beliefs used to justify gender roles and relations. The second set of 6 scales focus on how men individually experience their gender. All scales were systematically evaluated according to whether they include items comparing the sexes or concerning gender relations or items assessing attitudes and beliefs about women. Inclusion of these types of items is noted in a table, along with information on whether the authors assumed one dominant form of masculinity, whether subscales were identified, and the psychometric properties of the scale and subscale. The review suggests that measures of gender orientation and measures of gender ideologies are independent and have differential correlates. Evidence also suggests that gender ideologies about men are distinct from and have differential correlates from gender ideologies about women or about gender relations in general. Items comparing genders should thus be avoided in measures of attitude toward masculinities. Several of the measures have too narrow a definition of masculinity.     

Gang Fights versus Cat Fights: Urban Young Men's Gendered Narratives of Violence

Scholarly accounts of young men's violence have remained remarkably consistent over time: the use of violence emerges in response to focal concerns that strongly emphasize autonomy, respect, and the defense of reputation, and is indicative of the import of hegemonic masculinities on the streets. Yet, despite persistent gender gaps in the use of violence, recent research suggests that young women use violence more often than commonly believed, and their violence is likewise tied to concerns about status and respect. Given scholarly attention to the functions of violence for accomplishing masculinity, this raises the interesting question of whether and how young men maintain the equation of masculinity with violence when faced with the reality of young women's violence. Drawing from the sociology of accounts and research on gender, language, and discourse, we analyze in-depth interviews with 39 urban African-American young men to compare how they construct and make sense of boys' and girls' violence in the context of conversations about the nature and meanings of violence.     

Negotiating Dominant Masculinity Ideology: Strategies Used by Gay, Bisexual and Questioning Male Adolescents

In the context of a U.S. dominant masculinity ideology, which devalues men who are not heterosexually identified, many gay, bisexual and questioning (GBQ) adolescent males must develop their own affirming and health-promoting sense of masculinity. In order to promote the well-being of GBQ young men, exploration of their reactions and responses to dominant images of masculinity is needed. We qualitatively analyzed interviews with 39 GBQ African American, Latino, and European American male adolescents (15–23 years old). Participants reported a range of responses to traditional masculinity ideologies, most of which centered on balancing presentations of masculine and feminine characteristics. Negotiation strategies served a variety of functions, including avoiding anti-gay violence, living up to expected images of masculinity, and creating unique images of personhood free of gender role expectations. These data suggest a complex picture of GBQ male adolescents’ management of masculinity expectations and serve as a basis for culturally and developmentally specific HIV prevention programs.     

Racial and Sexual Objectification of Asian American Women: Associations with Trauma Symptomatology,Body Image Concerns,and Disordered Eating

ABSTRACT

Sexism and racism often imbue Asian American women’s socialization experiences. Operating from an objectification theory framework, the present article (a) examines the conceptual relevance of racial and sexual objectification in describing Asian American women’s oppressive experiences, (b) reviews empirical studies linking racial and sexual objectification with Asian American women’s mental health issues, specifically in the areas of trauma symptomatology, body image concerns, and disordered eating, (c) offers critiques of existing research and points to directions for future research, and (d) discusses clinical implications for therapy work with Asian American women based on available literature. In essence, the present review highlights how Asian American women may experience body image concerns, disordered eating, and trauma symptomatology through processes ethnoculturally and socioculturally distinct to them via experiences of racial and sexual objectification. This review calls for a more nuanced and precise understanding of Asian American women’s racial and sexual objectification experiences and associated mental health difficulties. This understanding can only occur through increased empirical research and clinical practice, as informed by feminist scholarship situated in a culturally expanded objectification framework.     

Breasts Are for Men: Media, Masculinity Ideologies, and Men’s Beliefs About Women’s Bodies

Although masculinity ideology (MI) has been shown to predict men’s sexual risk-taking, less is known about MI’s contribution to men’s beliefs about women and their sexual bodies. Accordingly, we examined associations between masculine ideology, media consumption, and men’s attitudes about women’s reproductive body functions among a sample of 656 undergraduate men. Participants completed measures assessing their endorsement of traditional gender ideologies, their levels of media exposure and engagement, and their attitudes toward childbirth and breastfeeding. It was hypothesized that media use would contribute to traditional MI, and that traditional MI would contribute to negative views about breastfeeding and childbirth. Results supported these individual connections, but not a mediated model. Discussion focuses on implications of these findings for women’s lives.     

Influence of maternal gender-role beliefs and role satisfaction on daughters' vocational interests

We examined whether maternal gender-role ideologies and role satisfaction influence daughters' vocational interests. 152 female undergraduate students (Mage = 18.7 years), from predominantly white, middle- to upper-class homes, as well as their mothers and fathers, participated voluntarily. Students identified their career choices, completed a gender-role ideology scale and an identification with parents questionnaire, and reported their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' gender-role ideologies and role satisfaction. Each parent completed a gender-role ideology scale and a role satisfaction questionnaire. Path analyses support a model in which actual and perceived maternal attitudes (n= 135) influence the gender-role ideologies of daughters, which in turn influence the gender stereotyped nature of daughters' career choices (Q= .90; W= 14.00, p> .05); furthermore daughters' maternal identification moderated the relationship between perceived maternal gender-role ideology and own gender-role ideology. A similar model substituting fathers' attitudes (n= 128) did not fit the data. The results indicate how maternal attitudes influence daughters' career choice, and support the role of family socialization on children's career aspirations.     

Phenomenology of Bodily Integrity in Disfiguring Breast Cancer

In this paper, I explore the meaning of bodily integrity in disfiguring breast cancer. Bodily integrity is a normative principle precisely because it does not simply refer to actual physical or functional intactness. It rather indicates what should be regarded and respected as inviolable in vulnerable and damageable bodies. I will argue that this normative inviolability or wholeness can be based upon a person's embodied experience of wholeness. This phenomenological stance differs from the liberal view that identifies respect for integrity with respect for autonomy (resulting in an invalidation of bodily integrity's proper normative meaning), as well as from the view that bodily integrity is based upon ideologies of wholeness (which runs the risk of being disadvantageous to women). I propose that bodily integrity involves a process of identification between the experience of one's body as “Leib” and the experience of one's body as “Körper.” If identification fails or is not possible, one's integrity is threatened. This idea of bodily integrity can support breast cancer patients and survivors in making decisions about possible corrective interventions. To implement this idea in oncology care, empirical‐phenomenological research needs to establish how breast cancer patients express their embodied self‐experiences.     

Masculinity Ideology, Male Identity, and Romantic Relationship Quality Among Heterosexual and Gay Men

This research assessed factors that may affect men’s romantic relationships. One hundred men (50 heterosexual and 50 gay) in the Northeast US completed measures that assessed masculinity ideology, male identity, and relationship quality. We examined whether the quality of heterosexual men’s romantic relationships differ from that of romantic relationships among gay men, and whether masculinity ideology and male identity are related to the quality of heterosexual and same-sex romantic relationships. Results indicated no differences between heterosexual and gay men in the perceived quality of romantic relationships. However, in both gay and heterosexual men, traditional masculinity ideology and a male identity characterized by a lack of psychological relatedness to other men were associated with lower quality romantic relationships.     

Gender roles, eating pathology, and body dissatisfaction in men: a meta-analysis

The current study reviewed relationships between gender roles and (a) eating pathology, (b) body dissatisfaction, and (c) muscle dissatisfaction among men via meta-analysis. Moderators of sexual orientation and type of gender role measure were also investigated. Results revealed the relationship between femininity and eating and body-related variables did not significantly differ from zero. Sexual orientation moderated the relationship between femininity and muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., femininity was negatively related to muscle dissatisfaction for heterosexual but not gay men). Masculinity was negatively associated with eating pathology and body dissatisfaction. Type of masculinity measure moderated the relationship between masculinity and body dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based measures produced a negative association, multidimensional measures yielded nonsignificant relationships). Type of masculinity measure produced a cross-over interaction when examining muscle dissatisfaction (i.e., trait-based instruments yielded a negative association and multidimensional instruments revealed a positive relationship). Findings highlight the salience of masculinity in men's eating and body concerns.     

The Multicultural Masculinity Ideology Scale: Validation from Three Cultural Perspectives

The Multicultural Masculinity Ideology Scale(MMIS) measures an individual's adaptation andinternalization of a culture's norms about how menshould act. This study extends previous research onmasculinity ideology by generating a scale representingmultiple cultural perspectives using 190 Chilean, 283Anglo-American, and 296 African-American undergraduates.The psychometric properties of the MMIS were established using principal components analysis, convergentvalidity tests, and internal-consistency and test-retestreliability. Two components consistent across culturesemerged: Hypermasculine Posturing and Achievement. In addition, there were culturally-specificcomponents: Toughness, Pose, and Responsibility amongChileans; Sensitivity among Anglo-Americans; and SexualResponsibility among African-Americans. Results indicate that the MMIS can be useful forexamining a variety of research questions relating toculture and masculinity.     

LOOKING GOOD, SOUNDING GOOD: FEMININITY IDEOLOGY AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS' MENTAL HEALTH

This study used a feminist psychodynamic developmental framework to test the hypothesis that internalizing conventional femininity ideologies in two domains—inauthenticity in relationships and body objectification—is associated with early adolescent girls' mental health. One hundred forty-eight eighth-grade girls completed measures of femininity ideology, self-esteem, depression, and demographic characteristics. In the first part of this study, we refined the Adolescent Femininity Ideology Scale originally developed by Tolman and Porche (2000) . In the second part, we used structural equation modeling to test models linking femininity ideology to mental health. Results revealed that body objectification, and to a lesser extent, inauthenticity in relationships, accounted for half of the variance in depression and over two-thirds of the variance in self-esteem in a critical period of development for adolescent girls. The importance of a feminist psychodynamic developmental framework for identifying and understanding salient dimensions of female adolescence is discussed.     

If “Boys Will Be Boys,” Then Girls Will Be Victims? A Meta-Analytic Review of the Research That Relates Masculine Ideology to Sexual Aggression

In feminist sociocultural models of rape, extreme adherence to the masculine gender role is implicated in the perpetuation of sexual assault against women in that it encourages men to be dominant and aggressive, and it teaches that women are inferior to men and are sometimes worthy of victimization. Many researchers have linked components of masculine ideology to self-reports of past sexual aggression or future likelihood to rape. Thirty-nine effect sizes were examined in this meta-analysis across 11 different measures of masculine ideology to determine how strongly each index of masculine ideology was associated with sexual aggression. Although 10 of the 11 effect sizes were statistically significant, the 2 largest effects were for Malamuth's construct of “hostile masculinity” (e.g., Malamuth, Sockloskie, Koss, & Tanaka, 1991) and Mosher's construct of “hypermasculinity” (e.g., Mosher & Sirkin, 1984), both of which measure multiple components of masculine ideology including acceptance of aggression against women and negative, hostile beliefs about women. The next strongest relationships concerned measures of agreement that men are dominant over women and measures of hostility toward women. Scores on general measures of gender-role adherence, such as the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), were not strong predictors of sexual aggression. Sociocultural models that link patriarchal masculine id eology and situational factors to sexual aggression should prove most predictive in future research.     

Ideology,Discourse and Social Theory: André Du Toit's Contribution to South African Studies

Abstract

Du Toit's conception of ideology, discourse and texts as applied to South African intellectual history lies on the edges, is deeply layered and open to multiple interpretations and approaches. In this paper, I want to trace those identifiable, yet faint, pathways passing through Marxist, Post-Structuralist and Post-Colonial literature, which allow us to appreciate Du Toit's contribution to our understanding and analysis of ideology in South African history and politics. The first part identifies the problems associated with applying a narrow conception of ideology to Afrikaner and African nationalist discourses in South Africa. The second section traces the debate of ideology in the context of Marxism, particularly the relationship between ideology and power. This is followed by a discussion of ideology in relation to discourse and, finally, the paper concludes with an overview of Du Toit's reworking of Thompson's framework. We will see how Du Toit's conception of ideology—one related to a broader social theory, and also to the production of discourses, the relations of domination and the constitution of subjects—provides a far more nuanced conception to apply to South African intellectual history.     

Women experience more serious relationship problems when male partners endorse hostile sexism

Men's hostile sexism promotes aggressive attitudes, motivations and behaviors toward women. Despite the costs these effects should have for women, prior research has failed to test how men's hostile sexism predicts the problems women experience in important domains. We address this oversight by utilizing dyadic data from 363 heterosexual couples to test how male partners’ hostile sexism predicts women's relationship experiences and evaluations. Male partners’ hostile sexism was associated with women experiencing more severe problems across a greater number of domains. Moreover, the areas experienced as most problematic were consistent with the power, dependence, and trust concerns underlying men's hostile sexism, including problems with power dynamics, jealousy, and serious problems involving gender-role conflict, abuse, infidelity and alcohol/drugs. The greater problems associated with male partners’ hostile sexism predicted more negative relationship evaluations for women. These results demonstrate the importance of examining how men's hostile sexism harms women in important life domains.     

Avatar body dimensions and men's body image

Two online surveys examined the significance of the visual analogues, or ‘avatars’, men (total N = 266) create and use online. Two-dimensional (adiposity × muscle) somatomorphic matrices revealed that avatars are generally thinner than their creator's actual body and similar to their ideal, but more muscular than either their actual or ideal. Men's ratings of the importance of their avatar's appearance correlated with their actual weight and muscle concerns, and disparity between their avatar and actual body dimensions predicted their offline context body change concerns additional to that accounted for by disparity between their ideal and actual bodies. Together with the observation that men also reported higher self-esteem, less social interaction anxiety and less social phobia while online (which correlated with the time they spent online), these results suggest that the physical dimensions of avatars used in social interactions online may serve a compensatory function.     

An “Ideology in Pieces” Approach to Studying Change in Teachers’ Sensemaking About Race,Racism, and Racial Justice

This article makes a unique contribution to the literature on teachers’ racialized sensemaking by proposing a framework of “ideology in pieces” that synthesizes Hall's (1982, 1996) theory of ideology and diSessa's (1993) theory of conceptual change. Hall's theory of ideology enables an examination of teachers’ sensemaking as situated within a structured society and diSessa's research on conceptual change provides an analytical lens to understand the elements of ideological sensemaking and the processes of ideological transformation. I use the framework of ideology in pieces to analyze and interpret the ideological sensemaking and transformation of a teacher engaged in a collaborative teacher research group in which participants explored issues of social justice in their high school math and science classrooms. The framework and analysis presented in the article offer a more comprehensive theory of teachers’ ideological sensemaking and transformation that includes their cognitive, social, and structural dimensions.     

Whitehead and Wilber: Contrasts in theory

Abstract

The question of how to interpret the ideas and evidence from the transpersonal realm has been a challenge to western psychology since its inception. This article illustrates how process philosophy, as developed by Alfred North Whitehead, can serve as a theoretical foundation for transpersonal psychology. Making it especially qualified for this role are process philosophy's unique approach to the nature of experience, its openness to spiritual matters, and its ability to offer a single framework of thought capable of integrating these issues with the concerns of the scientific and academic communities as well as our experience of everyday life. Following the introduction of some of Whitehead's basic ideas that illustrate this philosophy's relevance to psychological and transpersonal metatheory, aspects of Ken Wilber's new work are examined and criticized from a Whiteheadian perspective.     

男性气质：理论基础、研究取向和相关研究领域

男性气质是和女性气质相对或平行的、具有一定可塑性的人格特质, 是个体内化了的、关于男性应展现出的、符合男性气质意识形态的构念, 维系着自我概念和行为的一致性。男性气质的形成依赖于性别自我认同、社会认同和文化认同。固执地遵从特定社会化的男性气质意识规范会影响男性的心理健康。对男性气质的理论基础、研究取向：意识形态取向、社会建构取向和认同取向, 以及相关研究领域进行了系统阐述。未来研究应改进测量工具, 更新研究设计, 细化研究领域, 发展男性气质多元化实践以及男性气质的跨文化研究。     

Hegemonic Masculinity and Mental Health Among Older White Men in the U.S.: The Role of Health and Wealth Decline

Millions of men in the US experience substance abuse and impulse control disorders, which is well researched. Far fewer scholars have studied the millions of men that also experience depression (which is traditionally associated with women). Drawing upon literature on fragile masculinity and masculinity threat, we evaluate the role of endorsing hegemonic masculinity ideals (e.g., men should be strong, unemotional, and financially secure) in both internalizing (depression) and externalizing (anger) mental health problems, focusing on older White men aged 70–74 in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey (N?=?1,794). In addition to predicting mental health among older men according to their agreement with hegemonic masculinity ideals, we examine the impact of two potential threats to masculinity: health and wealth decline. We find that endorsement of hegemonic masculinity ideals is positively associated with externalizing and internalizing symptoms and that the association between hegemonic masculinity ideals and depressive symptoms is even stronger for men who perceive their health to be declining and those who have lost wealth. We conclude that endorsement of rigid hegemonic masculinity ideals negatively impacts older men’s mental health, especially when they experience challenges to their self-perception as strong, independent, and self-reliant. We provide suggestions as to how improving our understanding of the association between masculinity beliefs and mental health can inform clinical practice as well as public health and public policy.