Threatened-masculinity shame-related responses among straight men: Measurement and relationship to aggression.

Abstract

The significant sex-based discrepancy in violent crime suggests that something about maleness or masculinity contributes to this pattern. Research on masculinities clearly indicates that if men struggle to meet masculine gender role expectations, they are likely to report distress (Eisler & Skidmore, 1987; O’Neil, 2008). Empirical work demonstrates that failing to meet these expectations causes some men to become aggressive (Vandello & Bosson, 2013), but literature has not fully elucidated the psychological experience of that connection. To better understand the role threatened masculinity may play in fomenting male aggression, we created a new measure of threatened-masculinity shame-related responses. We then explored how these experiences related to aggression. The Masculinity and Shame Questionnaire is a scenario-based measure of shame-related responses to threatened masculinity: feel shame, escape, prevent exposure, and externalize blame. In a validation study with heterosexual males (n = 460), we found strong evidence for validity of the Masculinity and Shame Questionnaire among heterosexual men and a clear connection between threatened-masculinity shame-related responses and self-reports of a tendency to be physically aggressive. Threatened-masculinity externalization of blame mediated the relationship between threatened-masculinity shame-related responses and self-reported physically aggressive behaviors. Further, regression analyses showed that threatened-masculinity shame-related responses account for variance in self-reported physically aggressive behaviors above and beyond the variance accounted for by general shame. Results suggest the threatened-masculinity shame dynamic is critical to consider in violence prevention and intervention work.

Blame Attributions Against Heterosexual Male Victims of Sexual Coercion: Effects of Gender, Social Influence, and Perceptions of Distress

“…This study depicted a man failing to uphold prescriptive ideals around male aggression and dominance, as the victim submitted to a verbal directive without physically resisting or escaping. As a result, this study was inconsistent with Gebhard et al (2018) who found that externalization of blame mediated the relationship between shame-proneness and threatened-masculinity. Our findings suggest that shame proneness is associated with a reduction in blame attributions among men and, consequently, that shame may foster sympathy toward other men.…”

“…For instance, externalization of blame has been shown to mediate the relationship between shame proneness and aggression (Stuewig et al, 2010). For men specifically, this relationship has been found in connection to feelings of threatened masculinity among heterosexual men (Gebhard et al, 2018). Given these findings, it is plausible that shame-prone men attribute more blame to male victims given that the act of disclosure violates norms of masculinity.…”

Extending the gender role strain paradigm to account for U.S. males’ gun violence.

“…In a recent advance, Gebhard et al (2019) addressed the individual difference question by developing a measure of threatened-masculinity shame-related responses, the Masculinity and Shame Questionnaire (MASQ). The MASQ is a scenario-based measure of shame-related responses to threatened masculinity.…”

“…The MASQ is a scenario-based measure of shame-related responses to threatened masculinity. It presents hypothetical threatened masculinity scenarios (e.g., “You take a highly regarded personality test and the results indicate that your personality is more feminine than masculine,” Gebhard et al, 2019, p. 442) and asks respondents to rate how likely they would be to respond in one of four ways: feel shame, escape, prevent exposure, and externalize blame. The investigators found a linkage between threatened-masculinity feel-shame responses and self-reports of a tendency to be physically aggressive.…”

Masculine contingency and rape myth acceptance in heterosexual men: Hope as a moderator?

“…The reason for this result is unclear, as threat demonstrates a stronger negative relationship with positive constructs (e.g., self-esteem; Burkley et al, 2016). Perhaps threat is more relevant to constructs that involve social comparison (e.g., shame; Gebhard et al, 2019), whereas boost is more related to internal perceptions of mental health. Nevertheless, more research should explore the relationships between contingency subscales and positive constructs to better understand these relationships.…”