The Relation Between Masculine Role Conflict and Psychological Distress in Male University Counseling Center Clients

Abstract

This is the first study to examine the relations between components of masculine gender role conflict and specific symptoms of psychological distress in a sample of men seeking counseling services. One hundred and thirty male clients from 2 university counseling centers completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Participants reported moderate to high levels of psychological symptoms, which were correlated with components of masculine role conflict. Results of simultaneous multiple regressions supported previous findings in nonclinical samples of relations between masculine role conflict and depression and interpersonal issues. In addition, masculine role conflict significantly predicted paranoia, psychoticism, and obsessive compulsivity. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

Men in Traditional and Nontraditional Careers: Gender Role Attitudes, Gender Role Conflict, and Job Satisfaction

“…In short, it appears that these engineers were experiencing some measure of cost in their lives related to their adherence to traditional male gender role expectations. Indeed, there is consistent evidence that men who experience greater gender role conflict also experience more psychological distress (e.g., Blazina & Watkins, 1996;Cournoyer & Mahalik, 1995;Good, Robertson, Fitzgerald, Stevens, & Bartels, 1996;Simonsen, Blazina, & Watkins, 2000), although the men's psychological distress was not measured in this study.…”

Potential benefits of expressive writing for male college students with varying degrees of restrictive emotionality.

“…With regard to intrapersonal problems, men's restrictive emotionality has been found to be related to psychological distress (Liu, Rochlen, & Mohr, 2005), anxiety, (Cournoyer, 1994;Sharpe & Heppner, 1991;Wong, Pituch, & Rochlen, 2006), depression (Good & Mintz, 1990;Mahalik & Cournoyer, 2000;Sharpe & Heppner, 1991;Shepard, 2002;Zamarripa, Wampold, & Gregory, 2003), a negative view of help-seeking (Robertson & Fitzgerald, 1992), immature psychological defenses (Mahalik, Cournoyer, Defranc, Cherry, & Napolitano, 1998), an increased similarity in personality style to chemical abusers (Blazina & Watkins, Jr., 1996), paranoia and psychoticism (Good, Robertson, Fitzgerald, Stevens, & Bartels, 1996), and negative attitudes toward emotional expression (Wong et al, 2006).…”

“…Research evidence has consistently linked men's restrictive emotionality to interpersonal difficulties such as shyness (Bruch, 2002) and interpersonal sensitivity (Good et al, 1996). Expressive writing might provide emotionally restricted men with the freedom to explore their feelings without fears about their interpersonal functioning.…”

The Relationships of Racial Identity and Gender Role Conflict to Self-Esteem of Asian American Undergraduate Men

“…For Asian American students who experience distress, Asian American men are less likely to seek assistance than Asian American women (Chang & Yeh). Self-esteem is an important and commonly used component of psychological well-being (Good, Robertson, Fitzgerald, Stevens, & Bartels, 1996;Sharpe & Heppner, 1991;Yip, 2003). The psychological well-being of students is important to consider with regard to retention and reducing crisis management cases (Cress & Ikeda, 2003).…”

“…The study used the Gender-Role Conflict Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). For analyses, Good et al (1996) conducted simultaneous multiple regressions with a stringent criterion for determining significance, p < .001.…”