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Project

Men’s health behavior and wellbeing obstructed: The role of gender identification and precarious manhood in three domains.

It has been well documented that men have a shorter life expectancy and a higher suicide rate than women, and there is preliminary evidence that traditional masculinity norms may be linked to such health and wellbeing risks. However, most health researchers have examined these issues from a clinical perspective and not much is known about the underlying social psychological mechanisms that may account for such outcomes. This project aims to build a bridge between social psychology and health research by examining social identity processes leading to lower health and wellbeing outcomes for men. We look at the strength of men’s gender identification and of the belief that their masculinity is easily lost and needs repeated social proof. We propose that a strong identification as a man and such beliefs interact, leading to unfavorable outcomes in 3 domains: a) more unhealthy behavior, b) generally lower health benefits of friendships, and c) generally less communal self-views compared to women. We use cardiovascular measures of challenge and threat to assess the underlying role of threat more directly and continuously. Moreover, we use priming to examine whether the link between precarious manhood and undermined health and wellbeing can be broken, opening the way to interventions. The project will contribute by increasing our understanding of why men’s wellbeing and health may be impeded in these domains and provide leverage for interventions to reverse such effects.

Date:1 Nov 2021 →  Today
Keywords:Masculine gender identification, precarious manhood, health and wellbeing
Disciplines:Group and interpersonal processes
Project type:PhD project