Identifying practices of masculinity socialization that contribute to the establishment of gender privilege can help address violence and bullying in schools (Connell, 1996). Because the sport of football is considered an important contributor to masculinity construction, establishing peer networks, and creating hierarchies of student status, this study examined the influence of social norms (i.e., moral atmosphere, meanings of adolescent masculinity) on bullying beliefs and behaviors of 206 high school football players. Results demonstrated that moral atmosphere (Peer Influence, Influential Male Figure) and adherence to male role norms significantly predicted bullying, but the strongest predictor was the perception of whether the most influential male in a player's life would approve of the bullying behavior. In addition to prevention interventions highlighting the role of influential men and masculinity norms in this process, implications for practice suggest that football players can use their peer influence and status as center sport participants to create a school culture that does not tolerate bullying.

African American racial identity across the lifespan: Identity status, identity content, and depressive symptoms. Child Development, 77, 1504Development, 77, -1577

The purpose of this article is to describe the development of the Inventory of Subjective Masculinity Experiences (ISME) and to provide preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of this scale. Subjective masculinity experiences are defined as men's subjective experiences of what it means to be a man (e.g., As a man, I need to be strong). Participants (220 men) completed the sentence, “As a man…” 10 times. Participants' open-ended responses were coded according to 23 dimensions of subjective masculinity experiences. Five of the twenty-three ISME dimensions included responses that comprised at least 5 percent of all participant responses: Family, Responsibility, Emotional Toughness, Work, and Physical Body. Preliminary evidence for the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity of these dimensions was provided. The ISME-Family and ISME-Responsibility were negatively associated with psychological distress, whereas the ISME-Work was positively related to psychological distress. The ISME-Emotional Toughness was negatively related to life satisfaction. The use of the ISME in clinical and research settings is discussed.

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Subjective Masculinity Stress Scale (SMSS), which assesses the stress associated with men's subjective experiences of what it means to be male. Two hundred twenty men from the United States completed the sentence, “As a man…” 10 times, after which they indicated the frequency with which each of the 10 experiences was stressful. Evidence for the internal consistency and test–retest reliability as well as the convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity of the SMSS was provided. In terms of incremental validity, a multiple regression analysis revealed that after controlling for three other masculinity measures and a generic measure of stress, the SMSS remained significantly and positively related to psychological distress. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

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