This study examined masculine gender role stress (MGRS) as a mediator of the relation between adherence to dimensions of a hegemonic masculinity and hostility toward women (HTW). Among a sample of 338 heterosexual men, results indicated that MGRS mediated the relation between adherence to the status and antifemininity norms, but not the toughness norm, and HTW. Adherence to the toughness norm maintained a positive association with HTW. These findings suggest that men's HTW develops via multiple pathways that are associated with different norms of hegemonic masculinity. Implications for the prediction of men's aggression against women are discussed.

The primary aim of this investigation was to examine the association between men's level of mindfulness and histories of alcohol consumption and sexual aggression toward intimate partners. Participants were 167 heterosexual drinking males who completed self-report measures of mindfulness, frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption during the past 12 months, and sexual aggression against intimate partners during the past 12 months. Results indicated that a history of consuming larger amounts when drinking was associated with more frequent sexual coercion/aggression among men who reported low, but not high, levels of mindfulness. However, drinking more frequently by itself was not associated with more frequent sexual coercion/ aggression. These results support the attention-allocation model and suggest implications for future intervention research aimed at reducing alcohol-related aggression. KeywordsIntimate Partner Violence; Alcohol Consumption; Attention-Allocation; Mindfulness Evidence for the link between alcohol use and sexual aggression is well-established (for reviews, see Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, & McAuslan, 2004;Testa, 2002). However, despite a substantial literature in this area, interventions aimed at reducing alcohol-related aggression have only begun to take shape. Recently, Giancola, Josephs, DeWall, and Gunn (2009) proposed preventative strategies for alcohol-facilitated aggression based upon the attention-allocation model (AAM; Pernanen, 1976;. The AAM is an empirically supported and widely accepted explanation for intoxicated behavior (Giancola & Corman, 2007;Steele & Josephs, 1988;Zeichner, Allen, Giancola, & Lating, 1994). According to the AAM, alcohol intoxication impairs executive cognitive functioning, which then restricts the inebriate's ability to perceive and process instigatory and inhibitory cues. Because in most real-world situations cues that instigate behavior are more salient and easier to process than cues that inhibit behavior, intoxication is likely to produce myopia toward cues that instigate behavior (e.g., desire to have sex). Furthermore, this model is in line with past research demonstrating that alcohol impairs self-awareness processing (Hull, 1981;Hull, Levenson, Young, & Sher, 1983), which may impede a person's capacity to process self-relevant cues that discourage aggressive behavior.2 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 5010, Atlanta, Georgia, parrott@gsu.edu, NIH Public Access In accordance with these data, Giancola and colleagues (2009) argued that interventions designed to increase mindfulness may serve to decrease aggression in intoxicated individuals by shifting attention back to inhibitory cues (e.g., social norms that proscribe sexual aggression). Indeed, mindfulness is a state, trait, and acquirable skill that has been defined as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment...

Objective This study provided the first direct test of the cognitive underpinnings of the attention-allocation model and attempted to replicate and extend past behavioral findings for this model as an explanation for alcohol-related aggression. Method A diverse community sample (55% African-American) of males (N = 159) between 21 and 35 years of age (M = 25.80) were randomly assigned to one of two beverage conditions (i.e., alcohol, no-alcohol control) and one of two distraction conditions (i.e., distraction, no-distraction). Following beverage consumption, participants were provoked via reception of electric shocks and a verbal insult from a fictitious male opponent. Participants’ attention-allocation to aggression words (i.e., aggression bias) and physical aggression were measured using a dot probe task and a shock-based aggression task, respectively. Results Intoxicated men whose attention was distracted displayed significantly lower levels of aggression bias and enacted significantly less physical aggression than intoxicated men whose attention was not distracted. However, aggression bias did not account for the lower levels of alcohol-related aggression in the distraction, relative to the no-distraction, condition. Conclusions These results replicated and extended past evidence that cognitive distraction is associated with lower levels of alcohol-related aggression in highly provoked males and provide the first known cognitive data to support the attentional processes posited by the attention-allocation model. Discussion focused on how these data inform intervention programming for alcohol-related aggression.

The aim of the present study was to examine the mediational effect of masculine gender role stress on the relation between adherence to dimensions of a hegemonic masculinity and male-to-female intimate partner physical aggression. Men’s history of heavy episodic drinking was also examined as a moderator of the proposed mediation effect. A sample of 392 heterosexual men from the southeastern United States who had been in an intimate relationship within the past year completed measures of hegemonic masculine norms (i.e., status, toughness, and antifemininity), masculine gender role stress, alcohol use patterns, and intimate partner physical aggression. Results indicated that the indirect effects of adherence to the antifemininity and toughness norms on physical aggression toward female intimate partners via masculine gender role stress were significant and marginal, respectively. A significant indirect effect of status was not detected. Moreover, subsequent analyses revealed that the indirect effects of antifemininity and toughness were significant only among men with a history of heavy episodic drinking. These findings suggest that heavy episodic drinking exacerbates a gender-relevant stress pathway for intimate partner aggression among men who adhere to specific norms of masculinity. Overall, results suggest that the proximal effect of heavy episodic drinking focuses men’s attention on gender-based schemas associated with antifemininity and toughness, which facilitates partner-directed aggression as a means to demonstrate these aspects of their masculinity. Implications for the intersection between men’s adherence to specific norms of hegemonic masculinity, cognitive appraisal of gender relevant situations, and characteristic patterns of alcohol consumption are discussed.

This study examined a pathway to heterosexual women's experience of anger and anxiety in response to lesbian interactions. Participants were 149 18-30 year old heterosexual female undergraduates (56% African American) from a southeastern United States university. Participants completed measures of female gender role beliefs, sexual prejudice, and state affect, viewed a video depicting relationship behavior between a female-female or male-female dyad, and again completed a measure of state affect. Results indicated that traditional beliefs about women were associated with higher levels of sexual prejudice toward lesbians. In turn, higher levels of sexual prejudice predicted increased anger (not anxiety) in response to the female-female, but not the male-female, dyad. Findings elucidate determinants of heterosexual women's anger, and potentially aggression, toward lesbians.