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Glenn Good, left, and Puncky Heppner conducted research
that shows that men who hide their emotions and act tough
or macho are not more susceptible to phychological problems.
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Cracking
the Mind of
the ‘Manly Man’
By Jeff Neu
What does it mean to “be a man?”
For years, researchers have said that those men who fit the role
of the “manly” man,
meaning showing little emotion, never sharing feelings, and acting
“tough,” are susceptible
to a broad array of psychological issues. These issues include
greater depression and anxiety, problems with interpersonal intimacy,
and substance abuse. However, a new study by University of Missouri-Columbia
researchers found that men can act “manly” and experience
little or no psychological distress.
“If anything, this study showed
that there is no one right way to be a man,” said Glenn
Good, MU associate professor of counseling
psychology, who conducted the study along with Puncky Heppner,
MU counseling psychology professor.
Good and Heppner examined 260 males, averaging
19 years of age, in their study. The participants were asked to
complete five standard surveys, including the Gender Role Conflict
Scale, which asked the men such questions as whether they strived
to be more successful than others, if they had difficulty telling
others their feelings, and whether affection with other men made
them tense.
Good and Heppner found, contrary to their
expectations and conclusions drawn from numerous published studies,
that masculinity did not have a direct effect on men’s experience
of symptoms of psychological distress. In fact, masculinity accounted
for only 1 percent of the psychological distress found in the
participants.
The researchers believe these results call
into question how therapists work with depressed men, especially
their assessments of the client’s masculine ideologies and
gender-related behaviors.
“Our
findings suggest that practitioners and researchers should use
caution before automatically assuming that masculine role conflict
automatically causes greater psychological distress for all men,”
Good said.
Their study, “Understanding
Mens’ Psychological Distress: Contributions to Problem-Solving
Appraisal and Masculine Role Conflict,” will be published
soon in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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