A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Masculinity and Relationships in Men From Turkey, Norway, and the United States

Abstract

Masculinity ideology is the endorsement of a set of culturally based male role norms that influences gender-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. However, masculinity research has been criticized for not being inclusive enough of different cultures. This study explored the cultural and relational components of masculinity by comparing 564 Turkish, Norwegian, and U.S. men's endorsement of masculinity ideology and examining the associations between masculinity ideology and interpersonal attitudes and behavioral competencies with romantic partners and work colleagues separately for the three groups of men. Norwegian men had significantly lower scores on a measure of masculinity ideology than both Turkish and U.S. men. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that all three groups of men had significant associations between male role norms and interpersonal relationship variables, but the patterns of association differed by country. Generally, endorsement of traditional male role norms was associated with poorer interpersonal competencies for men in all three countries, although the associations were much stronger for the Norwegian sample. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Keywords gender/sex roles, interpersonal relationships, cultural psychologyAs researchers study gendered behavior in men's lives, recent attention has focused on the construct of masculinity. The social constructionist perspective considers masculinity as "a culturally based ideology scripting gender relations, attitudes, and beliefs" (Thompson & Pleck, 1995, Lease et al. 85 p. 130). Masculinity is defined as the combination of the practices, ideologies, and historical norms that cultures use to define what it means to be a man (Levant, 2008). The understanding of masculinity ideology is rooted in a particular cultural group's perspectives of gender and may differ by culture (Pleck, Sonenstein, & Ku, 1993), but masculinity research has been criticized for not being inclusive enough of different cultural perspectives (Whorley & Addis, 2006).Constructions of what is termed as traditional masculinity ideology are often based in a Western perspective of hegemonic masculinity that emphasizes the dominant position of men over women and other men who do not adhere to the culturally defined conventional masculinity (e.g., those who identify as gay, non-White, non-Western) (Gerami, 2005;Hatty, 2000). This hegemonic masculinity may not be the most commonly enacted masculinity, but it is the socially normative pattern of masculinity requiring that all men in the particular culture position themselves in relation to it (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Characteristics associated with traditional U.S. hegemonic masculinity include the restriction of emotion; being tough, aggressive, or self-reliant; emphasis on the achievement of status; and above all, an avoidance of all things deemed feminine (Levant, 1996). Behaviors such as help-seeking, emotional connection and support, compromise, empathic understanding,...

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