Revised conceptualization and theoretical linkages with child outcomes. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed., pp. 58 -93). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

This article reviews 232 empirical studies that used the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) over the past 25 years (1982-2007). The article introduces the gender role conflict (GRC) construct using past definitions and theoretical models. The research findings for diverse men are summarized and studies related to men's intrapersonal, interpersonal, and therapeutic lives are analyzed. The empirical support, criticism, and challenges to the gender role conflict research program are reviewed. A contextual research paradigm with seven domains is presented and 18 research questions and two research models are discussed to foster more moderation and mediation studies on men's GRC. A new diagnostic schema to assess men's GRC in therapy and during psychoeducational interventions is discussed. The research review concludes that GRC is significantly related to men's psychological and interpersonal problems and therefore an important construct for psychologists and other helping professionals.

This article describes men's gender role conflict and strain that emanate from rigid gender socialization. The author proposes 10 assumptions about how gender role socialization and sexism can be psychologically dysfunctional for both men and women. The masculine mystique and value system and men's fear of femininity produce six patterns of gender role conflict and strain in men's lives. These patterns are discussed and their effects on men's psychological and physical well being are presented. Four recommendations for counselors and psychologists are offered to increase sensitivity to gender role conflict and decrease the emotional pain in people's lives caused by sexism and restrictive gender role socialization.

Two distinct deficits in research on male gender role conflict are addressed: (a) lack of psychometric information and (b) lack of research involving clinical samples. First, using 1,043 men across three samples, the psychometric properties of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) were examined through confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency estimation, and construct validation. Next, using 130 male university counseling center clients across two samples, the relation between gender role conflict and psychological distress was examined. The GRCS demonstrated good internal consistency and was best modeled as 4 intercorrelated factors, as originally proposed by J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, and L. Wrightsman (1986). Construct validity was supported through correlations with attitudes about masculinity, fear of intimacy, and social desirability in expected directions. However, reservations about the Conflicts Between Work and Family Relations subscale are noted. Male gender role conflict was significantly related to psychological distress, with the Restrictive Emotionality subscale being the best predictor of distress level. Implications for mental health practice and future research are discussed.Gender role conflict occurs when rigid, sexist, or restrictive gender roles, learned during socialization, result in the personal restriction, devaluation, or violation of others or self (Mintz & O'Neil, 1990;O'Neil, 1990; O'Neil, Good, & Holmes, in press). In a recent review, Thompson, Pleck, and Ferrera (1992) concluded that the construct of male gender role conflict "provides an important link between societal norms scripting traditional masculinities and individuals' adaptation" (p. 598) and that instruments assessing this construct allow better prediction of men's actual behaviors than do other masculinity measures. The Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS; O'Neil et al., 1986, in press) is such an instrument, in that it was specifically designed to measure men's patterns of gender role conflict. In the Annual Review of Psychology, Betz and Fitzgerald (1993) observed that "the GRCS has proven itself to be a heuristic and fruitful contribution to the empirical literature on the male gender role" (p. 360) and that "the GRCS is by far the most well