Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Eric Stice. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This article examines the talk of male Psychology students about women and heterosexual relationships in all-male discussion groups. Four vignettes depicting difficult situations in heterosexual relationships were used to initiate discussion. Eight men attending a historically black university participated in the group discussions, which were facilitated by a male postgraduate Psychology student. The study explored masculine identity construction by identifying interpretive repertoires deployed by respondents to construct and account for themselves and their social worlds, within the context of discussions about relationships with women. Three interpretive repertoires of masculinity: the male-as- breadwinner/provider, male-as-protector and the "New Man" repertoire were identified. The complex and contradictory nature of masculine identity construction is highlighted. Drawing on the work of Hollway (1984), two discourses of heterosexuality were also identified: the have/hold discourse and the permissive discourse. The invocation of the "New Man" repertoire and pro-feminist discourses of heterosexuality in the men's talk may signify a move towards more enlightened and less oppressive constructions of masculinity, heterosexuality and gender.

The purpose of the current study was to examine if positive family, social, and/or academic dimensions of SC weaken (i.e., moderate) the direct relationship between physical SC (i.e., a person's evaluation of their physique, adiposity, and weight) and depressive symptoms in a sample of adult men. A convenience sample of 239 college men completed self-report measures including the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 (TSCS-2) and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised. Hierarchical regressions revealed that family and social SC were significant moderators of the relationship between physical SC and depressive symptoms, suggesting how men see themselves in their family and social systems affects the aforementioned relationship. Academic SC, however, was not a significant moderator; it was negatively related to depressive symptoms no matter how men felt about their physical selves. Our findings suggest that feeling positively about one's relationships may protect men with poor physical SC from experiencing symptoms of depression at the rates or intensity of their similarly body dissatisfied peers who do not report positive family or social SC. An additional simultaneous regression assessed the contribution of various dimensions of SC to the prediction of depressive symptoms, physical (7.76%), social (8.02%) and academic (6.62%) self-concept accounted for significant amount of variance in symptoms of depression which family SC (2.61%) did not. College counselors who assist men presenting with poor physical SC or depressive symptoms should assess for the other problem, as they commonly co-occur. In addition, they may consider helping them to improve the quality of their relationships in family and social systems as reasonable interventions for both depression and poor physical SC. Importantly, men who experience their academic SC as deficient should be considered at-risk for depression, although more research is needed to help identify the types of students who report low academic SC. In addition, men with symptoms of depression would likely benefit from accommodations to support their academic functioning.

This study aimed to investigate how “outness,” spirituality/religiosity, gay identity affirmation and demographic factors relate to each other and predict internalized homophobia (IH). IH is linked to a host of negative outcomes. The study took place over three months at the 2012 New York Pride parades in all five boroughs. Participants were recruited via the cross-sectional street-intercept approach, 195 of whom met the inclusion criteria. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26. In sum, the sample consisted of a highly educated, mostly white, high-income subset of men. The regression model indicated that gay identity importance and being “out” to world were predictive of IH. There were also significant differences in participation in gay activities along the lines of education and race. Same sex attracted men who earned a four-year college degree reported more participation in gay activities compared to those of lower attainment levels. Compared to White men, Latino men participated in less gay activities, possibly due to cultural factors. Men who have higher levels of affirmation were more likely to participated in gay activities, which could include pride, which suggests a potential bias. Buddhists reported unusually high levels of internalized homophobia compared to other spiritual and religious practices and orientations. Finally, there were no significant differences in homophobia with race, but there was one with religion. Christians exhibited statistically significantly higher levels of internalized homophobia compared to those who were nonreligious namely atheists, agnostics, and the spiritual but not religious. Implications for health promotion were discussed.

Appearance-related commentary can be positive or negative. Such commentary has been shown to negatively affect the mental health and well-being of women in a well-documented body of research. There is limited research on this topic pertaining to males. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of appearance-related commentary in men. Results indicate that men who receive more negative commentary are more likely to experience eating pathology, body dissatisfaction, distress from commentary, and participate in compulsive exercising and appearancechange behaviors. However, men that receive positive commentary are likely to experience more positive outcomes, reporting less dissatisfaction and pathology but more appearance-change behaviors. It appears that men are affected by negative, appearance-related commentary in the same ways that women are, but that they experience positive commentary in a more direct and appropriate manner. Additionally, self-objectification, a covariate found to interact in similar relations with women, was not found to account for any of the variance between appearance-related feedback and outcomes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 360-380).

Gender role issues have been an integral part of psychology since the 1970s. More recently, theories and research have surfaced concerning the issues of maleness in our society. Most of these theories focus on masculine gender role and how it affects men in various ways, e.g., their psychological well-being, substance use, relational abilities, and help-seeking behaviors. One area of maleness that has consistently been left out of the Masculine Role Conflict (MRC) debate is that of homosexuality. As a gay man develops, he finds himself at odds with society over something that he experiences biologically as normal and appropriate. It is the contention of this paper that MRC is an issue related to psychological distress among gay men and not psychological weakness in gay men, per se.

This study investigates the impact of sociocultural mediators in relation to eating disorders among male undergraduates. Literature on eating disorders has demonstrated that a thin body shape ideal depicted in the media directly contributes to eating pathology among females, but little research has investigated the direct effects of ideal body shape images among men. The focus of the present investigation was to assess the direct effects of exposure to the ideal male body shape on men’s affect, self esteem, body satisfaction, and endorsement of U. S. societal ideals of attractiveness. In addition, the relation of these variables to bulimic symptomatology was examined. Modeling a study conducted on women (Stice & Shaw, 1994), male undergraduates between the ages of 18 to 25 participated in premeasure (N = 169) and post measure (N = 95) conditions. Participants in the post measure were randomly exposed to pictures from magazines containing either male models depicting the ideal body shape, an average body or pictures of clothing without models. Results from repeated mulitvariate analysis indicated that exposure to the ideal body shape condition did not demonstrate significant negative changes in men’s affect, self esteem, body satisfaction or endorsement of U. S. societal ideals of attractiveness. Indirect support for the sociocultural theory of eating disorders was provided by multiple regression analyses which demonstrated that increased body mass, self esteem, stress and anxiety predicted bulimic symptomatology in men. Future research should direct itself toward investigating possible sociocultural influences of eating disorders on certain male subenvironments, such as athletes or homosexual males that place a greater emphasis on maintaining lower body mass and an ideal body shape.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States. Because early prostate cancer is frequently without symptoms and data on how to prevent prostate cancer is lacking, early detection has the greatest potential for decreasing mortality. Studies have shown Hispanics/Latinos to be less likely than whites or African-Americans to utilize prostate cancer screening exams. The purpose of this descriptive study was to design a social marketing plan which could be used as a model to promote Hispanic/Latino participation at prostate cancer screenings. Information obtained through medical and marketing literature review, the author's experiences serving on the promotion committee of a community-sponsored prostate cancer screening project, and interviews with 51 Hispanic/Latino prostate cancer screening participants is described and incorporated into a guide with recommendations for future program planners.

Black South African men who have sex with men (MSM) face a set of adverse circumstances, including economic hardship and stigmatization, that combine to put them at an elevated risk for hazardous substance use and HIV infection. This creates a context where substance use is normative and high-risk sexual behavior is often engaged in covertly and under the influence of intoxicating substances. The overarching objective of this dissertation was to explore determinants of hazardous drinking and HIV risk behavior among black South African MSM with a particular focus on the role of social networks. In order to achieve this, I used data drawn from the study, “HIV and Sexual Risk in African MSM in South African Townships” (R01-MH083557; PI: Sandfort, PhD). First, I conducted a systematic literature review to identify studies that used social network analysis to evaluate alcohol use among adults in order to answer the question: how have social network characteristics been shown to influence adults’ drinking behaviors, both in terms of characteristics of their network structures and characteristics of their network ties? Results of the review demonstrated that characteristics of one’s peers as well as social network structure influenced egos’ alcohol consumption in a variety of ways and across settings. Second, I described drug and alcohol use among black South African MSM and identified determinants of hazardous drinking, a highly prevalent form of alcohol use identified in the sample. The results showed that hazardous drinking was highly prevalent and multiple indicators of social vulnerability were identified as independent determinants of hazardous drinking. Third, I assessed the relationship between substance use and sexual risk behavior and explored the moderating effects of psychosocial factors. The results showed that there was not a main effect between substance use and sexual risk behavior; however, among men with high intentions to engage in safer sex, substance use was associated with increased risky sexual behavior. Overall, this dissertation increased our understanding of social networks, substance use and HIV risk behavior among black South African MSM. Our results suggest the importance of using pre-existing social networks to deliver potential interventions. The results also suggest that the most vulnerable members of this community are at increased risk of hazardous drinking. Lastly, efforts to reduce HIV risk behavior should focus on both increasing safer sex intentions and negating the impact of substance use on sexual risk behavior. Taken together, these studies provide insight for developing potential interventions, including intervention that use social network data to facilitate behavioral change, as well as undertaking further research among a critical population.