Masculinity and men's health service use across four social generations: Findings from Australia's Ten to Men study

Abstract

There is a perception that traditional masculine ideals, usually thought deleterious for men's health outcomes, are no longer as relevant for younger social generations such as Millennials as they are for older social generations such as Baby Boomers. Yet, in Australia, there remains a disparity between younger men's and women's health outcomes and use of health services. Conformity to traditional masculinity is often cited as a barrier to men's positive health behaviours but conceptualisation of the construct is contested. We analysed a selected secondary dataset ( n = 14,917) of Australian males aged between 15 and 55 years from Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health. We examined the role of conformity to traditional masculine norms in predicting likelihood of regular primary and preventative health services use for different social generations. Analyses included mediated regression and adjusted logistic regression. Conformity to ten of the eleven specific traditional masculine norms predicted likelihood of increased or decreased regular health service use depending on the generation and health service type. Specific traditional masculine norms play a complex role in men's use of distinct health service types for different generations of Australian males. Practitioners wishing to increase men's engagement with health services should consider gender-sensitive approaches that leverage specific masculine norms relevant to the age cohort to drive positive outcomes in men's health.

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

“…Conformity to masculine norms is linked to many adverse mental and physical health outcomes ( Mahalik et al, 2003 ; McGraw et al, 2021 ; Milner et al, 2019 ; Salgado et al, 2019 ). For example, adherence to Violence, Dominance as well as Risk-taking has been linked to psychological distress through somatization among men ( Mahalik et al, 2003 ).…”

“…For example, adherence to Violence, Dominance as well as Risk-taking has been linked to psychological distress through somatization among men ( Mahalik et al, 2003 ). More recently, McGraw and colleagues’ (2021) study revealed that Emotional control, Self-reliance, and Violence predicts different generations’ likelihood of decreased regular health service use. Language also plays a determinant role in health ( Bowen, 2001 ; de Moissac & Bowen, 2019 ).…”

“…It could be useful for health-care providers and clinicians to evaluate with their male clients whether their enactment of masculinity contributes stress to their lives and, when appropriate, explore ways for them to construct a healthier personal masculinity ( Gerdes et al, 2018 ; Mahalik et al, 2003 ). Recent studies exploring the positive impact of masculinity on men’s health indicated that pursuing specific dimensions of masculinity can drive preventative health behaviors ( McGraw et al, 2021 ; Rochelle, 2019 ). As such, psychotherapy could build upon masculine norms to help men improve their health and well-being ( Mahalik et al, 2003 ).…”

“…Several studies have documented the satisfactory psychometric properties of the CMNI-22. First, Cronbach α coefficients for the CMNI-22’s global score vary from .64 to .78 in different samples of men, demonstrating low to moderate, yet mostly acceptable reliability ( Berger et al, 2012 ; Burns & Mahalik, 2008 ; Hamilton & Mahalik, 2009 ; McGraw et al, 2021 ; Owen, 2011 ; Rice et al, 2016 ; Rochlen et al, 2008 ). When analyzing internal consistency separately for each subscale, Milner et al (2018) reported Cronbach α coefficients ranging from .44 (Primacy of work) to .81 (Being a playboy).…”

Endorsement of Traditional Masculinity Ideologies is Associated With Differences in Psychotherapy Use Among Heterosexual-Identified but not Non-Heterosexual-Identified Men

“…There are also findings that increased endorsement of specific TMI domains are associated with increased willingness to use health care services. Namely, endorsement of the belief that men need to attain high social status in a group or that men always need to be the best has been shown to be linked to increased use of health care services (McGraw et al, 2021;Sileo & Kershaw, 2020). It seems important to note, that recent reports found no or even beneficiary relations between individual masculine norms and negative mental health outcomes, such as depression symptoms (Lin et al, 2021;Van Doorn et al, 2021).…”