Consumer Masculinity Behavior Among College Students and Its Relationship to Self Esteem and Media Significance

Conseur, Amanda; Hathcote, Jan M.; Kim, Soyoung

doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9366-2

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…We presented the CMI, a preliminary measure of consumer masculinity, and generally found support for its structural and discriminant validity as regards components of traditional masculinity and materialist values in both British and Israeli men. These studies also cross-validated its association with external criteria, including reports of actual behavioral investment in personal aesthetics and self-labeling as metrosexual, both of which were previously conceptualized as indicators of consumer masculinity (Barber, 2008;Conseur et al, 2008;Shugart, 2008). Through use of this novel (albeit preliminary) measure, consumer masculinity ideology was incorporated for the first time in an empirical investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Diverging from traditional masculinity's dictates, however, men's increasing behavioral investment in their personal aesthetic, which was epitomized by the metrosexual self-label (Simpson, 1994), are important correlates of consumer masculinity (Conseur et al, 2008), providing external criteria for the validation of the CMI.…”

Section: Study 1: Consumer Masculinity and Body Ideals In British Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the language of consumerism has become a truly global vernacular (Rosenmann, Reese, & Cameron, 2016), media outlets often emphasize the global appeal of new consumer trends and emerging masculine lifestyles (Tan et al, 2013). Accordingly, consumption of global lifestyle media served as an index for emerging strands of consumer masculine behavior in one empirical study (Conseur, Hathcote, & Kim, 2008).This consumer masculinity is thus defined as the structuring of who and what men should ideally be by the aforementioned axioms of consumer culture, according to which proper masculinity is established, communicated and validated through various modalities of consumption. These performances of consumer masculinity utilize symbolic options devised by marketers, which are then presented and interpreted by media outlets targeting men's referent groups.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, consumer masculinity contemporizes male dominance to better fit the norms of consumer culture and should thus be positively associated with indices of traditional masculinity. Specifically, the pursuit of social status, a subcomponent of traditional masculinity ideology (Pleck et al, 1993), was expected to be most predictive of endorsement of consumer masculinity.Diverging from traditional masculinity's dictates, however, men's increasing behavioral investment in their personal aesthetic, which was epitomized by the metrosexual self-label (Simpson, 1994), are important correlates of consumer masculinity (Conseur et al, 2008), providing external criteria for the validation of the CMI.These set of considerations and predictions were formalized in the following hypotheses:Hyp(1). Greater endorsement of materialist values, as well as the status attainment subcomponent of traditional masculinity ideology, should predict greater endorsement of consumer masculinity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our aim was to probe for novel content associated with 11 alternative masculinity ideologies rather than create an ad-hoc inventory of attitudes that simply contradict traditional male norms. These themes were then culled in accordance with our initial decision to avoid content that pertained to the male body, its adornment and care, as well as areas of convergence with measures of materialist values.In light of this working definition, existing consumerist scales were assessed, and several which tap relevant content, without mentioning specific brands, product categories or media-outlets, were identified (e.g., Bearden, Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989; Cleveland & Laroche, 2007;Conseur et al, 2008;Eastman, Goldsmith & Flynn, 1999; O'Cass, & McEwen, 2004;Strizhakova, & Coulter, 2013). Items derived from the qualitative study described above, or adapted from existing scales were re-/written by the authors in Hebrew, and followed the normative approach to measurement of masculinity ideology (Luyt, 2005;Pleck et al, 1993;E.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consumer masculinity ideology: Conceptualization and initial findings on men’s emerging body concerns.

Rosenmann

Kaplan

Gaunt

et al. 2018

Psychology of Men & Masculinity

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Men's body concerns have been increasing in recent decades, as contemporary men express what had almost exclusively been feminine concerns over body appearance. Although traditional masculinity can account for some body concerns, it cannot fully explain their increased prevalence or changing forms.This project examines recent shifts from a production-centered to a consumerist culture, and suggests that this societal change manifests in the emergence of a consumer masculinity ideology. We argue that this new ideology, in which proper masculinity is established, communicated and validated through consumption, is instrumental in explaining men's contemporary body concerns. We provide initial empirical support for the utility of this construct in samples of predominantly ethnic majority, heterosexual, and highly-educated British and Israeli men (N=191, Mage=33.57, SDage=10.24; N=185, Mage=36.05, SDage=11.88, respectively) . In both samples, a preliminary measure of this ideology, the Consumer Masculinity Inventory (CMI), mostly confirmed the predicted associations with measures of traditional masculinity and materialist values, as well as with men's behavioral investment in personal aesthetics and self-labeling as metrosexual. Generally supporting the hypotheses, CMI scores also uniquely predicted most indices of men's body concerns (e.g., self-objectification, drives for muscularity and leanness) beyond measures of traditional masculinity and materialist values. Additionally, CMI scores partially mediated the predictive contributions of traditional masculinity to these body concerns.These preliminary findings highlight the potential contribution of this novel conceptualization and operationalization for psychological research and practice. Future research should thus consider the impact of consumer masculinity on the well-being and body concerns of contemporary men.Keywords: consumer masculinity, body shape, body concerns, traditional masculinity, metrosexual 2 Consumer Masculinity Ideology: Conceptualization and Initial Findings on Men's Emerging Body ConcernsIn recent decades men have paid growing attention to their appearance and started manifesting body concerns formerly considered to be primarily feminine (Barlett, Vowels, & Saucier, 2008;Blond, 2008; National Eating Disorders Association, 2015). Even as extensive research has investigated men's dissatisfaction with their bodies, its prevailing point of departure has been attitudes associated with traditional masculinity (e.g., De Jesus et al., 2015;Griffiths, Murray, & Touyz, 2015;Holmqvist Gattario et al., 2015;Parent, 2013). Traditionally, men have treated their bodies as machines, whose function is paramount (Jeleniewski Seidler, 2007;Mishkind, Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1986). This emphasis on body functionality comes at the expense of attention to the male body's appearance and health (Rosenmann & Kaplan, 2014). Thus, while traditional masculine norms are reasonable antecedents of men's desire for greater body functionality (e.g.,...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Study 1: Consumer Masculinity and Body Ideals In British Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%