Conformity to masculine norms and men’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mahalik, James R.; Bianca, Michael Di; Harris, Michael P.

doi:10.1037/men0000401

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Finally, Mahalik et al (2022) explored whether political ideology moderated the proposed relationship. These authors found that in general, conservative men had more negative attitudes to masks than liberal men.…”

Section: Moderators and Mediatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between masculinity and men’s COVID-19 safety precautions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jones,

Anderson

2024

Psychology of Men & Masculinities

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Studies have indicated that men are less likely to engage in COVID-19-safety precautions such as mask wearing and social distancing compared to women, and men's adherence to masculine gender norms may contribute to this discrepancy. This systematic review sought to consolidate extant research exploring the relationship between men's adherence to masculine norms and their attitudes and engagement with COVID-19 safety precautions. A systematic search was conducted across APA PsycInfo, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS to identify data from quantitative and qualitative studies, written in English, using samples including adolescent or adult males. Of the 4,326 studies initially identified, 11 studies met the inclusion criteria (eight quantitative and three qualitative). A total number of 3,134 male participants were included, the majority of which were from North America. The meta-analysis revealed a negative relationship between men's adherence to masculine norms and wearing masks (r = −.52, n = 2,783) and general or mixed measures of COVID-19 precautions (r = −.18, n = 612). There was insufficient evidence to metaanalyse other specific relationships; however, the thematic synthesis revealed a limited quantity of evidence that reported mixed findings about whether or not masculinity is related the specific precautions of hand washing, social distancing, restricted travel, vaccinations, and staying at home. As the majority of studies were U.S. based and the concept of masculinity can vary by culture, further research is required to determine the cross-cultural validity of these findings. The present review provides valuable insight for policy makers looking to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public Significance StatementThe COVID-19 pandemic continues around the globe, and public health response strategies must continually be updated to ensure they remain efficacy. This review shows consistent evidence that men who adhere to traditional social norms around masculinity are less likely to engage in safety precautions that protect themselves and their communities from contracting COVID-19. This has serious implications including contributing to the longevity of the pandemic and associated financial, health, and well-being costs.

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Section: Moderators and Mediatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between masculinity and men’s COVID-19 safety precautions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jones,

Anderson

2024

Psychology of Men & Masculinities

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“…More specifically, we anticipate that conformity to the masculine norms of emotional control and self-reliance will moderate those relationships given that these norms were “consistently and unfavorably associated with mental health-related outcomes” (Wong et al, 2017, p. 89), as well as associated with health risk behaviors and attitudes (Mahalik et al, 2022). We posit that the relationship between depressive symptoms and health beliefs, as well as the relationship between health beliefs and heart-healthy behaviors, may be moderated by emotional control and self-reliance.…”

Section: The Head and The Heart: Psychological Factors In Cardiac Hea...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…N = 459. Minimum and maximum values are indicated in parentheses for the following abbreviations: health behaviors (11, 48) = heart-healthy behaviors; depressive symptoms (0, 51) = Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale; benefits (16, 48) = perceived benefits of heart-healthy behaviors; barriers(8, 43) = perceived barriers to heart-healthy behaviors; emotional control (1, 6) = conformity to emotional control masculinity norm; self-reliance (1, 6) = conformity to self-reliance masculinity norm. * p < .05.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Men’s depressive symptoms, health beliefs, masculinity, and heart-healthy behaviors: Examining moderators of a mediated model.

Mahalik¹,

Harris²,

Bianca³

2023

Psychology of Men & Masculinities

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Four hundred fifty-nine men from the United States were recruited online and participated in our study examining men's depressive symptoms, health beliefs, health behaviors, and conformity to masculine norms. Path analyses using Hayes' PROCESS model tested the conditional indirect effects among the variables with conformity to the masculine norms of emotional control and self-reliance as moderators. Results indicated that (a) depressive symptoms predicted men perceiving fewer benefits and more barriers to heart-healthy behaviors, (b) depressive symptoms had a direct effect to fewer heart-healthy behaviors, (c) perceived benefits related to reporting more heart-healthy behaviors and mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and health behaviors, (d) perceived barriers related to fewer heart-healthy behaviors and mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and health behaviors, (e) conformity to emotional control related to fewer perceived barriers, fewer heart-healthy behaviors, and moderated the relationship between perceived barriers and health behaviors, and (f) conformity to self-reliance was associated with more perceived barriers to heart-healthy behaviors. Efforts to improve men's health should aim to increase men's perceived benefits and to reduce perceived barriers to healthy living associated with depression, identify specific benefits and barriers men experience in adopting healthy behaviors, and anticipate how emotional control exacerbates how men's depressive symptoms interfere with healthy living. Public Significance StatementMen's depression and health risk behaviors co-occur and contribute to negative outcomes from human suffering to economic losses of productivity. The findings from this study suggest that men's depression is associated with health-related beliefs that explain their risky health behaviors and that their conformity to emotional control exacerbates the effect of perceived barriers to healthy living.

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“…Not only are masculinity norms an important sociological phenomenon that affects society as a whole, but conformity to those norms is of particular interest to health practitioners due to its correlation. For example, studies have linked conformity to masculinity with important health risk behaviors (e.g., Mahalik et al, 2007; Mahalik et al, 2022a) and mental health outcomes such as depression, substance use, negative social functioning, body image problems, stress, and reluctance to seek help (see Wong et al, 2017 for a meta-analysis). Some elements of conformity to masculinity norms like not expressing one’s emotions and avoiding affectionate behaviors are reported to be especially important when predicting negative mental health outcomes.…”

Section: Masculinity Normsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Measurement Invariance of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-30) by Sexual Orientation

2023

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An abbreviated version of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, the CMNI-30, was developed with several strengths. However, its measurement invariance across men with different sexual orientations has not been examined in a U.S. sample, so it is unclear whether these different populations understand the items similarly. In addition, no studies have compared conformity to masculinity norms across sexual orientations. This would be important to understand sexual minority men’s experience of masculinity and how it differs from heteronormative masculinity. This article explores the measurement invariance of the CMNI-30 among 882 heterosexual, gay, and bisexual+ men using confirmatory factor analysis, and compares their CMNI-30 subscale scores. Results indicated that the CMNI-30 demonstrated residual invariance between men of different sexual orientations, suggesting that men of different sexual orientations interpreted the items similarly. We also found higher levels of conformity to the masculine norms of Winning, Heterosexual self-presentation, and Power over women among heterosexual men relative to gay and bisexual+ men, and higher levels of Pursuit of status among gay men relative to the other groups. Results provide support for the use of the CMNI-30 in research with men of different sexual orientations.

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Conformity to masculine norms and men’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

The relationship between masculinity and men’s COVID-19 safety precautions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The relationship between masculinity and men’s COVID-19 safety precautions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Men’s depressive symptoms, health beliefs, masculinity, and heart-healthy behaviors: Examining moderators of a mediated model.

Examining the Measurement Invariance of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-30) by Sexual Orientation

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