mmalabanan
A study has revealed that guys who attempt to act more manly are more likely to commit violent assaults.
In the research published in the journal Injury Prevention, 600 men from the US between the ages 18 to 50 were asked to take an online survey about their perception of male gender, how their image conformed with this, and risky behaviors.
The results of the survey showed that the behavior of men is actually affected by how they perceive masculinity and male gender norms. Compared to males who didn’t worry about their masculinity, men who considered themselves less masculine than the average man were more likely to say they had done assaults with a weapon and assaults resulting to the injury of the victim.
Men, who view themselves as falling short of being masculine and worry about how people see them in this light, experience “male discrepancy stress.” In the study, it was shown that male discrepancy stress has an impact on violent behavior.
However, there was no link found between discrepancy stress and average daily consumption of alcohol or drugs.
“This may suggest that substance use/abuse behaviors are less salient methods of demonstrating traditional masculinity in contrast to behaviors related to sex and violence, perhaps due to the potentially private nature of the habit,” the researchers explained.
Previously, it was established that highly masculine men are more likely to participate in activities such as substance abuse, fights, and risk taking. The newly published study suggests that less masculine men who experience discrepancy stress are equally at high risk of violence as highly masculine males.
The study authors suggest that the society must consider how gender norms and masculine socialization affect and puts stress on boys and men.
