abstract: Corrections has a rich history centered around rehabilitation and its obtainability, and has seen the pendulum swing back and forth between rehabilitative and punitive policies. Currently, there is an emphasis on evidence-based practices which provides a unique opportunity to assess gaps in the rehabilitation literature as a means to ensure that rehabilitative-oriented policies are part of the forefront of corrections. One notable gap in the corrections and rehabilitation literature is that research has not assessed what influences meaningful participation in rehabilitative programming during incarceration. Past research has acknowledged that there is an inmate code, characterized heavily by hypermasculinity, that negatively influences behavior during incarceration, yet research has not examined whether this code influences engagement in rehabilitative programming. The current study seeks to address this gap by examining the inmate code, specifically hypermasculinity, as a barrier to rehabilitation during incarceration through in-depth interviews with five incarcerated individuals from a large Southwestern correctional facility. Findings, limitations, and future research suggestions are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2017

No description available.

The project examines hypermasculine attitudes and depressive symptoms in emerging adult males. Recent research has suggested that although males have historically reported lower rates of depressive symptoms than females (Boticello, 2009), emerging adulthood may be a time when males are at an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms due to fear of failing to fulfill traditional masculine roles (e.g., breadwinner) and failure to achieve intimate romantic partnerships as a result (Oliffe et al., 2010). Some males may attempt to cope with these negative feelings by adopting maladaptive and exaggerated hypermasculine attitudes. Hypermasculine attitudes are associated with a variety of negative outcomes including violence toward women and substance abuse (Mosher & Sirkin, 1984). Substance use is also associated with depressive symptoms as a form of self-medication (Joiner et al., 1992) and masculinity in the college social context (Iwamoto et al., 2011). Hypermasculinity was originally conceptualized as a personality trait, but more recent research has examined it as a reactive coping strategy (Cunningham & Meunier, 2004). Furthermore, there is also evidence that hypermasculine attitudes may be more multidimensional and that different profiles of hypermasculine attitudes may be associated with different behavioral and psychological outcomes (Burke, Burkhart, & Sikorski, 2004). 328 males ages 18-25 who attend college completed the survey. The results do not support the hypothesized profile of hypermasculine attitudes. However, analysis of demographic characteristics did yield one large homogeneous cluster (n =213) for whom hypermasculine attitudes may be serving as a reactive coping strategy for depressive symptoms, and another large heterogeneous cluster (n = 115) for whom hypermasculine attitudes may not be serving as a coping strategy for depressive symptoms. / acase@tulane.edu

In spite of a newly developed military policy to facilitate gender integration since 2012, women service members in the U.S. Army today still face a discriminatory social climate. Male-dominated units foster the masculine ideal that subsequently leads to hypermasculine attitudes enabled through gender harassment behavior. Here, women employ coping strategies that facilitate either gender management or a balanced military identity, addressed in Culver's (2013) Gender Identity Development of Women in the Military (GIDWM) 4-phase matrix. A woman service member's position in the matrix is proportional to her level of gender management or military identity development. Similarly, her matrix position is directly related to the degree of gender harassment and cohesion within her unit, and the specific coping strategies she employs. These themes of gender harassment types and coping strategies, positive unit cohesion, and GIDWM identity position define the three research questions which are answered using the contextual framework and participant narratives. Taken together, the results showed that U.S. Army women service members successfully achieve a balanced military identity through effective leadership, mentorship, a cohesive unit, and self-actualization that promotes a meritocracy. These results facilitate an awareness of the present U.S. Army social climate and empower women in non-traditional roles to take similar steps towards a healthy, balanced identity. Therefore, this study represents a source of guidance and strength for and among women in male-dominated professions and presents empirical evidence to direct future gender harassment and gender integration military policies.

No description available.

HIV/AIDS is a growing concern in the African American community. From 2005 to 2008, there was a 12% increase in HIV/AIDS diagnoses among African Americans (CDC, 2010a). African American males have higher rates of HIV/AIDS diagnoses than any other ethnic or racial groups. In 2006, 65% of the HIV/AIDS cases among African Americans were from adult males (CDC, 2010a). These higher rates are in part attributed to higher levels of sexual risk-taking including unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners, and sex with high-risk partners. African American adult men get tested at almost the same rate (52%) as African American women 53% (CDC, 2007). HIV testing is important to the prevention of HIV/AIDS and can result in substantial reductions in risk behaviors (Marks, Crepaz, & Janssen, 2006; Weinhardt, Carey, Johnson, & Bickham, 1999). Masculinity, a man’s concept of what it means to be man, influences engagement in sexual risk-taking behaviors (Bowleg, 2004, Duck, 2009; Lichtenstein, 2004), as well as health-seeking behaviors (Hammond, Matthews, Mohottige, Agyemang, & Corbie-Smith, 2010; Royster, Richmond, Eng, & Margolis, 2006). One form of masculinity, hypermasculinity is related to sexual risk-taking behaviors, especially among young African American males. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the relationship between hypermasculinity and sexual risk-taking, and HIV testing among African American males. One hundred twenty-six African American male college students were recruited to participate in an HIV prevention intervention for African American women on a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) campus. Prior to participating in the intervention, participants completed a questionnaire with measures of hypermasculinity, sexual behavior, and HIV testing. The results showed that hypermasculinity predicted frequency of sex. Hypermasculinity and frequency of sex predicted lifetime HIV testing. Frequency of sex and the number of sex partners predicted current HIV testing (in the past month). The interaction between hypermasculinity and frequency of sex was marginally significant. The findings from this research may increase our understanding of sexual risk-taking, improve HIV testing initiatives, and be useful in the development of HIV prevention programs for African American heterosexual males.

This thesis is concerned with expressions of toxic masculinity in television acting, illustrated on the case study of the television show The Big Bang Theory. This work sets the term toxic masculinity in the context of masculinity studies and draws on the theory of hegemonic masculinity formulated by the Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell. Her theory assumes the existence of multiple, hierarchically ordered masculinities, with hegemonic masculinity - considered by some authors tobe synonymous with toxic masculinity - on top. This work also surveys the history of the representation of the male hero from the early days of American cinema up to the present, as the empirical section deals primarily with an American television show. Special emphasis is put on the "nerd" character, who represents non- hegemonic masculinity and thus does not tend to be associated with expressions of toxic masculinity, although he is also guilty of this behavior. The aim of this thesis was to use qualitative content analysis to identify manifestations of toxic masculine behavior by the nerd characters of the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory and to determine how this behavior differs from that of the "jock" character, an embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. This research reached the conclusion that each of these two...

This study explored teachers' perceptions of intelligence of 11th-grade Black male students and how students themselves perceived their own intelligence in light of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. Qualitative research methods were used to gain novel understanding of the students' and teachers' feelings, and perceptions as outlined in the research questions. Two versions of ecological systems theory provided the underpinnings for the framework of this study: 1) Brönfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, and 2) Spencer's PVEST (Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory) model, which is an adaptation of the ecology model to Black students in the United States. In a large urban school district in the Southeast section of the United States, twenty-six students completed an online survey of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Seven Black male students were selected and interviewed along with ten of their teachers. The study found that despite the negative stereotypes toward Black males by society, the Black male students in this study interpreted intelligence to be multifaceted and perceived themselves as intelligent Black males. The teachers of the Black male students perceived them as intelligent and also interpreted intelligence to be multifaceted. The Black male students were resilient in debunking the idea that Black males were not considered intelligent in a society where negative Black male stereotypes abound.

This study is about inclusion in digital environments with a focus on videogames. The purpose of the study is to provide insight into how to increase inclusion in the digital environment, primarily for women, and provide examples of how to apply good information design to digital spaces to contribute to increased inclusion in videogames. The aim is also to increase the understanding of how spatial design affects inclusion for users and which parts of the spatial aspect are important for the environment to be perceived as inclusive or not. The goal is to try to raise awareness about inclusion in the gaming environment and to get people to question the design. The methods used are questionnaire, interview workshop, site analysis and traditional masculine and feminine scale, as well as human centered design as a method and process in the work. Of these methods, prototypes were made and used to produce different notions of what is masculine or feminine, as well as what the users in the study perceived as more inclusive designs. The results show signs that the spatial environment gives signals to be able to behave in a certain way that can be linked to hypermasculinity. The users in the study perceived the most popular games to be in the more masculine direction with Counterstrike as the most masculine direction. The attributes of the game's environment and spatial elements were perceived by the users in the study as violence and terror, which may in this way send signals to the users that it is okay to behave in a more hypermasculine way as one of the attributes of hypermasculinity is violence. The conclusion is that a larger study would need to be carried out on the interaction between the environment and its signals to the users to see if it has a greater impact on the inclusion of the users, as there are signs that the spatial design also contributes to a hypermasculine environment in the digital space. / Det här arbetet handlar om inkludering i virtuella miljöer med fokus på spel. Syftet med studien är att ge insikt i hur man kanske kan öka inkluderingen i den digitala miljön för främst kvinnor och ge exempel på hur man kan tillämpa god informationsdesign på digitala rum för att bidra till en ökad inkludering. Syftet är också att öka förståelsen för hur den rumsliga gestaltningen påverkar inkluderingen för användarna och vilka delar av den rumsliga aspekten som har betydelse för att miljön ska uppfattas inkluderande eller inte. Målet är att försöka höja medvetenheten kring inkludering inom spelmiljön och att få människor att ifrågasätta designen.Metoderna som används är enkät, intervjuworkshop, platsanalys och traditionell maskulin och feminin skala, samt human centered design som en metod och process i arbetet. Av dessa metoder gjordes och användes sedan prototyper för att ta fram olika föreställningar om vad som är maskulint eller feminint, samt vad som användarna i studien uppfattade som mer inkluderande design. Resultatet visar tecken på att den rumsliga miljön ger signaler för att kunna eventuellt bete sig på ett visst sätt som kan kopplas till hypermaskulinitet. Användarna i studien uppfattade de mest populära spelen åt det mer maskulina hållet med Counter-Strike som det mest maskulina hållet. Attributen i spelets miljö och rumsliga element uppfattades av användarna i studien som våld och terror, vilket kanske på så sätt skickar signaler till användarna att de är okej att bete sig på ett mer hypermaskulint sätt då ett av attributen för hypermaskulinitet är våld. Slutsatsen är att det skulle behövas genomföras en större studie kring samverkan mellan miljön och dess signaler till användarna för att se om det har en större påverkan för inkluderingen av användarna, då det finns tecken på att det även den rumsliga gestaltningen bidrar till en hypermaskulin miljö i det digitala rummet.

No description available.