Gender role conflict is an influential construct in the area of adolescent boys’ studies with the Gender Role Conflict Scale for Adolescents (GRCS–A; Blazina, Pisecco, & O’Neil, 2005) the key tool used for assessment. Though commonly employed, the validity of the GRCS–A as well as the depth of understanding that can be derived from such a scale has been questioned. To address these concerns, a qualitative study—phenomenological in nature—was conducted to explore patterns of gender role conflict among a sample of adolescent boys residing in the Republic of Ireland. Through 1-on-1 interviews and focus groups, 54 adolescent boys, 12 to 18 years old, participated in this study. Four broad and interrelated overarching categories were identified: (1) expectations of masculine behavior, (2) masculine self-preservation, (3) restrictions on nonnormative gender expressions, and (4) penalties for being male. Themes and subthemes within these overarching categories also are discussed. Theoretical implications, limitations, and avenues for future research are then outlined.

The psychometric properties of the Gender Role Conflict Scale for Adolescents (GRSC-A;Blazina, Pisecco, & O'Neil, 2005) were investigated using 2 samples of Irish males (Sample A: N ϭ 317; Sample B: N ϭ 199). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that neither a 1-factor model nor a 4-factor model met established fit criteria. Across both samples, scores on the Restricted Emotionality (RE) and Conflict between Work, School, and Family (CWSF) subscales correlated consistently with self-esteem, and scores on the RE, CWSF and Need for Success and Achievement (NSA) subscales correlated with depression. Twelve items were problematic (i.e., standardized residuals and modification indices identified these items as contributing significantly to model misfit) suggesting that revision of the scale is warranted. Limitations and strengths associated with the current research are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Among 15-24 year olds in Ireland, completed suicide was responsible for 4.1 times more male deaths than female deaths in 2014 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017). Few international research studies have investigated the relationship between masculinity [as assessed by a measure of gender role conflict (GRC)] and suicide ideation, and none have done so with Irish adolescents. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between a new measure of GRC developed specifically for use with Irish adolescents (I-GRCS-A; O'Beaglaoich et al., 2016), and depression, self-esteem, and negative/protective suicide ideation. A sample of 176 adolescent boys (M = 16.9, SD = 0.94) from a nonclinical population participated in the study. Regression analyses and tests of mediation revealed that depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and negative suicide ideation, whilst self-esteem and depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and positive suicide ideation. Implications and limitations of the current study are outlined and directions for future research are discussed.