Canadian French Translation and Preliminary Validation of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Conformity to masculine norms has been linked to poor mental and physical health outcomes. Its valid assessment among subgroups of the population is therefore a crucial step in the investigation of intercultural variability in the enactment of masculinity, as well as its causes, costs, and benefits. The present pilot study aimed to adapt and conduct a preliminary validation of a French version of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-22), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess overall conformity to male gender standards. The French adaptation of the CMNI-22 (CanFr-CMNI-22) was developed using a forward-backward translation process. The data from a sample of 57 Canadian French men (23–81 years old), collected at two time points 2 weeks apart, were then analyzed to investigate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the CanFr-CMNI-22. Findings indicated adequate internal reliability of the global scores and highly satisfactory test–retest reliability. Correlations with the Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF) at both time points also showed strong convergent validity. Overall, the CanFr-CMNI-22 appears to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess conformity to traditional masculine gender norms in French-speaking men from the general population. This study is a key step in a research process aiming to validate the Canadian French version of the CMNI and contributes to enhance inclusive research and clinical care to foster men’s health.

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“…The CMNI-22 instrument is a short-form version of the 96-item CMNI-96 and includes 11 subscales representing 11 traditional masculine norms: emotional control, risk-taking, pursuit of status (status), dominance, playboy, power over women, primacy of work, self-reliance, violence, winning and heterosexual presentation (Mahalik et al , 2007). The CMNI-22 instrument scored slightly low reliability with the analysed data set ( θ = 0.70) but is considered an acceptable range for the abbreviated scale (Kim et al , 2020) and consistent with other studies using the instrument (Jbilou et al , 2021; Nadeau et al , 2016), additional to 12 studies published from the Ten to Men data sets thus far using the CMNI-22 masculinity scale (Ten to Men, 2023).…”

“…Specific masculinity norms were identified through subscales of the 22-item Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-22), which has high concurrent validity with the original CMNI instrument (Akpanudo et al , 2018; Hamilton and Mahalik, 2009; Jbilou et al , 2021; McGraw et al , 2021). The CMNI-22 instrument is a short-form version of the 96-item CMNI-96 and includes 11 subscales representing 11 traditional masculine norms: emotional control, risk-taking, pursuit of status (status), dominance, playboy, power over women, primacy of work, self-reliance, violence, winning and heterosexual presentation (Mahalik et al , 2007).…”