The relationships between masculine gender role discrepancy, discrepancy stress and men's health-related behavior

AbstractMen are at high risk for both morbidity and premature mortality from several of the most common serious diseases. Although numerous factors have been identified to explain men’s risk, this study focused on the relationship between lifestyle behaviors, health-related self-stigma and masculine role norms. An age and location stratified sample of 2000 Canadian men completed measures assessing five lifestyle behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, sleep, diet and exercise), a screen for depression, and measures of self-stigma and masculine role norms. The results showed that elements of both health-related self-stigma and masculine role norms were associated with increased risk for being above the clinical threshold for four of the lifestyle behaviors and depression. The most frequent and largest relationships were associated with exercise and depression. The total number of lifestyle behaviors for which participants were above the clinical cut-points was also associated with self-stigma and masculine role norms. These findings demonstrate the importance of health-related self-stigma and masculine role norms as potential barriers to men’s health and well-being.

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Men’s Health-Related Magazines: A Retrospective Study of What They Recommend and the Evidence Addressing Their Recommendations

American Journal of Men s Health ◽

10.1177/1557988320936900 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 155798832093690

Author(s):

Mohamed A. Jalloh ◽

Mitchell J. Barnett ◽

Eric J. Ip

Keyword(s):

Health Care Providers ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Men’S Health ◽

Men's Health ◽

Care Providers ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Media Messages ◽

Large Populations ◽

Health Related

Magazines have traditionally been an effective medium for delivering health media messages to large populations or specific groups. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated nine issues from 2016 publications of American men’s health-related magazines ( Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness) to evaluate their recommendations and determine their validity by examining corresponding evidence found in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. We extracted health recommendations ( n = 161) from both magazines and independently searched and evaluated evidence addressing the recommendations. We could find at least a case study or higher quality evidence addressing only 42% of the 161 recommendations (80 recommendations from Men’s Health and 81 recommendations from Men’s Fitness). For recommendations from Men’s Health, evidence supported approximately 23% of the 80 recommendations, while evidence was unclear, nonexistent, or contradictory for approximately 77% of the recommendations. For recommendations from Men’s Fitness, evidence supported approximately 25% of the 81 recommendations, while evidence was unclear, nonexistent, or contradictory for approximately 75% of the recommendations. The majority of recommendations made in men’s health-related magazines appear to lack credible peer-reviewed evidence; therefore, patients should discuss such recommendations with health-care providers before implementing.

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“It Used to Be That if It Weren’t Broken and Bleeding Profusely, I Would Never Go to the Doctor”: Men, Masculinity, and Health

American Journal of Men s Health ◽

10.1177/1557988310377926 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 318-331 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Julie Gast ◽

Terry Peak

Keyword(s):

Health Beliefs ◽

Past Research ◽

Men’S Health ◽

Men's Health ◽

Attitudes And Behaviors ◽

Health Promotion Behaviors ◽

Gender Scripts ◽

Health Decision ◽

And Behaviors ◽

Masculine Gender

Masculine gender scripts have been influential in health decision making in men. In addition, although past research has identified some success in using churches as sites for health education with women, little is known if similar programs would be successful with men. It is also unclear if religious beliefs influence the health attitudes and behaviors of men. Four focus groups with men from four religious denominations were conducted to learn about their health beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, with the following themes emerging: men’s health fears, health promotion behaviors, spousal influence, aging and men’s health, and church-based health influence. Finally, the interaction of masculine gender scripts within these themes was considered.

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Social Media and Men’s Health: A Content Analysis of Twitter Conversations During the 2013 Movember Campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom

American Journal of Men s Health ◽

10.1177/1557988315617826 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1627-1641 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Caroline A. Bravo ◽

Laurie Hoffman-Goetz

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Content Analysis ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Health Risks ◽

The United States ◽

Men’S Health ◽

Men's Health ◽

Health Issues ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Health Related

The Movember Foundation raises awareness and funds for men’s health issues such as prostate and testicular cancers in conjunction with a moustache contest. The 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom shared the same goal of creating conversations about men’s health that lead to increased awareness and understanding of the health risks men face. Our objective was to explore Twitter conversations to identify whether the 2013 Movember campaigns sparked global conversations about prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and other men’s health issues. We conducted a content analysis of 12,666 tweets posted during the 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (4,222 tweets from each country) to investigate whether tweets were health-related or non-health-related and to determine what topics dominated conversations. Few tweets ( n = 84, 0.7% of 12,666 tweets) provided content-rich or actionable health information that would lead to awareness and understanding of men’s health risks. While moustache growing and grooming was the most popular topic in U.S. tweets, conversations about community engagement were most common in Canadian and U.K. tweets. Significantly more tweets co-opted the Movember campaign to market products or contests in the United States than Canada and the United Kingdom ( p < .05). Findings from this content analysis of Twitter suggest that the 2013 Movember campaigns in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom sparked few conversations about prostate and testicular cancers that could potentially lead to greater awareness and understanding of important men’s health issues.

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Traditional Gender Role Attitudes May Undermine Men's Health

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e521512014-334 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Mary S. Himmelstein ◽

Diana T. Sanchez

Keyword(s):

Gender Role ◽

Gender Role Attitudes ◽

Men’S Health ◽

Men's Health ◽

Traditional Gender Role

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Correlates of Men’s Bystander Intervention to Prevent Sexual and Relationship Violence: The Role of Masculine Discrepancy Stress

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260519880999 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 088626051988099

Author(s):

Danielle S. Berke ◽

Ruschelle M. Leone ◽

Courtland S. Hyatt ◽

Amos Zeichner ◽

Dominic J. Parrott

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Gender Role ◽

Bystander Intervention ◽

Relationship Violence ◽

Bystander Behavior ◽

Gender Expectations ◽

Conditional Indirect Effects ◽

Bystander Behaviors ◽

Masculine Gender ◽

Role Discrepancy

Extant literature suggests that men may be less likely than women to engage in prosocial bystander behavior to interrupt sexual and relationship violence. However, there has been little consideration of the influence of masculine gender role discrepancy and masculine discrepancy stress (i.e., stress that occurs when men perceive themselves as falling short of traditional gender norms) on men’s bystander beliefs and behaviors. The current study fills an important gap in the literature by assessing the influence of masculine gender role discrepancy and masculine discrepancy stress on a range of prosocial bystander behaviors through their influence on the bystander decision-making process. Participants were 356 undergraduate men recruited from two different Southeastern U.S. universities who completed online surveys assessing self-perceptions of gender role discrepancy, consequent discrepancy stress, bystander decision-making, and bystander behavior in sexual and relationship violence contexts. Path models indicated significant conditional indirect effects of masculine gender role discrepancy on proactive bystander behaviors (i.e., behaviors related to making a plan in advance of being in a risky situation) and bystander behavior in drinking situations across levels of masculine discrepancy stress. Specifically, men who believed that they are less masculine than the typical man reported more pros to intervention in sexual and relationship violence than cons, and thus reported intervening more, but only if they were high in masculine discrepancy stress. Findings suggest that bystander intervention programs should explicitly address and challenge rigid expectations of what it means to be “manly” to transform gender expectations perpetuating sexual and relationship violence.

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