Stress in strong convictions: Precarious manhood beliefs moderate cortisol reactivity to masculinity threats.

Abstract

In this study, we use an experimental framework to fill three existing gaps in the masculinities and health literatures. First, we examine the impact of masculinity threats on cortisol reactivity to understand how hegemonic masculinity gets “under the skin” to affect men’s health. Second, we test two variations of a masculinity threat, which represents an important methodological advance to understand which type of threat is most stressful. Third, we examine whether precarious manhood beliefs (agreement with the idea that manhood is a fleeting state that can be lost) moderate physiological reactivity to masculinity threats, to understand who might be most vulnerable to health consequences of masculinity norms. We found that men who most strongly subscribe to precarious manhood beliefs exhibited reactivity to a dropping masculinity threat (initially high score that drops from a score of 80 to a score of 25 during the experimental manipulation), but not a low masculinity threat (score that remains at 25 during the experimental manipulation) or any control conditions. Our results suggest that men who most strongly subscribe to precarious manhood beliefs may be most at risk for health problems associated with stress after a loss of masculinity status, rather than individuals with consistently low masculinity status.

Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations

“…Although precarious manhood beliefs and their correlates have been measured quantitatively in several different cultures (e.g., Himmelstein et al, 2019;Valved et al, 2020), this study represents the first systematic, global examination of these beliefs using a standardized scale.…”

“…Theoretically, these findings extend the precarious manhood framework in novel ways. Although precarious manhood beliefs and their correlates have been measured both qualitatively and quantitatively in several different cultures (e.g., Himmelstein et al, 2019; Valved et al, forthcoming), this study represents the first systematic, global examination of these beliefs using a standardized scale. The findings reveal, first, that notions of precarious of manhood are universally understood, but endorsed to differing degrees across cultures.…”

“…Although researchers have not fully validated a measure of precarious manhood beliefs, some use or modify a 7-item scale from Vandello et al (2008) to assess variance in these beliefs. Findings from this research reveal that men higher in precarious manhood beliefs: are less inclined to confront a stranger who displays sexual prejudice (Kroeper et al, 2014); rate sexist and anti-gay jokes as funnier following a gender threat (O’Connor et al, 2017); and show larger cortisol reactivity (a stress response) following feedback that they lack masculinity (Himmelstein et al, 2019). However, these studies do not address the isomorphism, convergent validity, and cross-cultural usefulness of the PMB scale.…”

Is Crime Bad for Your Health? The Link Between Delinquent Offending and Cardiometabolic Risk

“…While biomarkers are still, at least technically, indirect measures of stress and physiological functioning, one of the primary advantages of such measures is that they are objective and minimize measurement error (Hellhammer et al, 2009). In addition, previous studies have also reported significant differences between objective (i.e., biomarkers) and subjective (i.e., self-reported) measures of stress, wherein both sets of measures are correlated with the measures of interest in opposite directions (Himmelstein et al, 2019). Therefore, alternative measurement strategies, focused on objective biomarkers, may offer greater precision and in turn, better identify associations of interest.…”

Challenging the binary: Gender/sex and the bio‐logics of normalcy

“…For instance, (presumably cis) women who are more aware of sexism and feel less personal control report more distress from sexist events (Landry & Merucrio, 2009), and in experimental work, women who indicate that “being a woman” is important to their identity have stronger cardiovascular stress responses to a sexist social threat test (Eliezer et al, 2010). Masculinity beliefs may also influence stress response in women (Juster & Lupien, 2012) and cortisol reactivity in men (Himmelstein et al, 2019).…”