Machismo and Mexican American men: An empirical understanding using a gay sample.

Abstract

Machismo continues to be a defining aspect of Mexican American men that informs a wide array of psychological and behavioral dimensions. Although strides have been made in this area of research, understanding of the role of this construct in the lives of gay men remains incomplete. Our purpose in this study was to gain a deeper understanding of machismo using a sample of Mexican American gay men. This study examined for the first time whether a 2-factor model of machismo previously validated with heterosexual, Mexican American men generalized to a sample of 152 gay men of similar ethnic background. Relations between machismo, sexual risk, and internalized homophobia were also explored. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 2-factor model with the current sample. Results also indicated machismo as predicting internalized homophobia and as an index of risky sex. Limitations are presented and implications are discussed.

“Straight-Acting Gays”: The Relationship Between Masculine Consciousness, Anti-Effeminacy, and Negative Gay Identity

“…Sánchez et al (2010) showed that both the importance of masculinity and concerns with fulfilling traditional masculine roles could account for a significant amount of negative feelings about being gay (R = .63, p\ .001). Finally, Estrada et al (2011) found that for a sample of 152 Mexican American gay men, scores on a measure of hypermasculinity were positively related to internalized homophobia (r = .30, p\.01).…”

“…Psychological practitioners have also written about working with such men in therapy and postulated that anti-effeminacy attitudes towards other gay men seemed to reflect negative feelings about being gay (Haldeman, 2006;Schwartzberg & Rosenberg, 1998). It is only until recently, however, that studies published in peer-reviewed journals have quantitatively linked the degree to which gay men are preoccupied with masculinity with internalized homophobia or negative feelings about being gay (Estrada, Rigali-Oiler, Arciniega, & Tracey, 2011;Sánchez, Westefeld, Liu, & Vilain, 2010;Szymanski & Carr, 2008). This report will discuss this line of research and will build upon a recent study by our group (Sánchez et al, 2010).…”

“I AM a Man”: Manhood, Minority Men’s Health and Health Equity

“…10,84,85 And, little research has explored the relationship between age-congruent notions of manhood and health. 22,35,74 Future research should utilize life course models to identify and test the pathways that link manhood and health; there is an urgent need to conduct research that examines the relationship between manhood and health among key phases of life across the adult life course.…”

Caballerismo may protect against the role of machismo on Mexican day laborers’ self-esteem.

“…It has also been positively related to need for success, power, and competition, as well as restrictive emotional ity, restrictive affectionate behavior between men, and gender role conflict in general (Liang, Salcedo, Miller, 2011). Additionally, machismo has been related to maladaptive behaviors such as alcohol consumption among Latino men (Arciniega et al, 2008) and higher numbers of sex partners among Mexican American gay men (Estrada, Rigali-Oiler, Arciniega, & Tracey, 2011). The lone liness and isolation that many day laborers' experience (Walter et al, 2004), coupled with machismo, may increase vulnerability to negative mental health outcomes (Arciniega et al) and engage ment in maladaptive behaviors such as risky sexual encounters and problem drinking (Duke & Carpinteiro, 2009).…”