How does masculinity play a protective role for Chinese gay men? The mediation effect of mindfulness between gender roles and mental distress

Abstract

Around the world, gay population suffer numerous mental distress problem, especially for those live under a conservative culture, like China. To deal with it, searching for protective factors and interventions to improve gay population’s mental health have become increasingly urgent. Masculinity, as a vital aspect of gay men’s gender roles, is observed to be a protective factor for certain population, yet haven’t been certified among gay population. Furthermore, potential mechanism of how masculinity subserve as a protective factor for gay population could distinct from those for normal population and leverage differential mediator loops. Notably, mindfulness, as an individual level variable which can be improved by certain practice or intervention, can mediate the relationship between masculinity and mental distress in both certain and gay population. Whether mindfulness could subserve a substantial mediator for masculinity in gay population to influence their mental distress remain unclear due to lacking of both theory and empirical evidence. To tackle these challenges, in current research we recruited 210 Chinese gay men who finished an online questionnaire containing demographic information and scales of FFMQ, BSRI and DASS-21. The present paper found that the protective role of masculinity can be observed among Chinese gay men, and mindfulness negatively mediated that relationship between masculinity and mental distress, however such mediation effect can’t be observed between femininity and mental distress. As for the sub-dimensions of mindfulness, acting with awareness and describing had negative mediation effects while non-reactivity had a positive mediation effect between masculinity and mental distress. Overall, current research suggests that it’s important and necessary to separate mindfulness into different sub-facets to investigate their mediation effects, besides, more attention should be focused on undifferentiated and feminine gay men, and mindfulness training could be an effective way to improve their life quality.