The present study is designed to take a new approach to studying gender differences in reactions to partner infidelity by measuring attitudes toward partner infidelity. No previous studies have directly examined attitudes toward partner sexual versus emotional infidelity, nor have studies assessed the strength of these attitudes. Thus, this study was designed as an initial investigation of overall evaluative differences between men and women. It was found that women held significantly more negative attitudes towards emotional infidelity than did men, with no gender differences in attitude held towards sexual infidelity. For sexual infidelity, more positive attitudes toward partner sexual infidelity were associated with lower reported distress for both men and women, with the relationship being significantly more pronounced for men. For emotional infidelity, attitude strength moderated the relationship between attitude towards emotional infidelity and distress about emotional infidelity. There was a significant relationship between attitudes toward partner emotional infidelity and distress when attitude strength was high but not when attitude strength was low. / Department of Psychological Science

This study examined sex differences in attitudes and attributions of responsibility in acquaintance rape situations. The existing literature in this area has focused solely on examining explicit attitudes, or those attitudes that are within an individual's conscious awareness. No attention, however, has been focused on the implicit attitudes that individuals have in acquaintance rape situations. Implicit attitudes are those that operate outside of an individual's awareness and reflect his or her underlying attitudes and beliefs about an object. In an effort to examine implicit attitudes in acquaintance rape situations, a variation of Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz's (1998) Implicit Associations Test was utilized. Additionally, Burt's (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and an Attribution of Responsibility measure were administered. It was hypothesized that responses to these measures would predict participants' sex. A stepwise discriminant function analysis was conducted. Age and attributions of responsibility were identified as the factors that best predicted sex. Significant relationships were identified between Rape Myth Acceptance and Attributions of Responsibility. Those participants who adhered to rape myths were more likely to attribute responsibility for the acquaintance rape to the survivor than were those who did not adhere to rape myths. Significant sex differences were also identified on the Attribution of Responsibility measure, with men being more likely than women to attribute responsibility for acquaintance rape to the survivor. Limitations to generalizability of these results and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

There is a discrepancy between men and women in regards to utilization of professional psychological services. It has been estimated that two-thirds of all individuals seeking professional psychological services are women. One reason that has been suggested to explain this underutilization of services by men is negative attitudes toward seeking psychological services and an inability to express emotion. The current investigation examined the relationship between men’s emotional expression, their attitudes toward expressing emotion, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological services, and their perceived barriers to seeking help. Participants were 228 men from a large, Midwestern university. Their age ranged from 18 to 50 years with a mean age of 23.34 years. Level of education ranged from freshmen undergraduate students to Master’s level graduate students. Eighty six percent identified as Caucasian and 90% identified as straight, and 6.6% identified as gay. To assess the relationship between the variables canonical correlation analysis was performed. Results demonstrated that men’s actual emotional expression and attitudes toward expressing emotion were related to stigma associated with and barriers to seeking professional psychological services. In particular, the more negative attitudes men had toward expressing emotion and the less emotional expressive they were, the greater their stigma beliefs associated with seeking professional psychological services and the more barriers they perceived with seeking said services. Findings from this investigation offer areas for future research, including further investigations of the relationship between attitudes toward expressing emotion and stigma associated with seeking professional psychological services. In addition, clinical applications are discussed, including methods to decrease stigma associated with seeking professional psychological services and means to address emotional expression with men in therapeutic settings. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This investigation was designed to determine if attitudinal differences toward involvement of females in athletic competitions existed between males when age, education, and sport backgrounds were considered. Subjects were 186 male employees of Air Products and Chemicals, Incorporated and the City of De Soto, Texas, and students at North Texas State University. A fifty-one item attitude inventory developed by the investigator was the instrument utilized in the study. Data were analyzed by a three-way analysis of variance. Conclusions of the study were that males of various ages, educational levels, and sport backgrounds do not differ in their attitudes and possess favorable opinions toward female sport participation, Males with nonactive sport backgrounds were more favorable than males with active-semiactive backgrounds when spectators at female sport events.

The intent of this study was twofold. It was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an experiential program which' purportedly enhanced self esteem in gay men. In addition, it aimed to discover what events and human experiences facilitate self esteem. The eight gay male participants who volunteered for the self esteem program were also employed to obtain data which was used to discover factors which facilitate self esteem. Flanagan's (1954) critical incidents technique was used to discover what facilitates and hinders self esteem in everyday life. A category system of factors facilitating self esteem was induced from critical incidents data obtained in a preliminary interview and from a journal of significant events which participants submitted throughout their involvement in the program. The program evaluation was based on three sources of information. The participants were compared with a control group of eight gay males on Rosenberg's (1965) Scale of Self Esteem both before and after their involvement in the program. They were also subjects in preliminary and summary, open-ended, interviews which were designed to assess changes in self esteem and to discern the degree to which initially stated goals and expectations were fulfilled by their participation in the program. In addition, critical incidents questions in the summary interview assessed how, and the degree to which, the program incorporated the factors which facilitate self esteem in everyday life. The names given to the eighteen categories of behaviours, events and/or experiences which were found to facilitate self esteem in everyday life are as follows: appreciation, affiliation, recognition, acceptance, honesty, self acceptance, self support, forgiveness, contributing, performance, confidence, accomplishment, sense of progress, overcoming, self care, belonging, social comparison, and independence. Given the exploratory and descriptive nature of this study, these factors constitute an initial model of what facilitates self esteem that needs to be tested using appropriate methods of verification. Interview data indicated that the experiential program facilitated the self esteem of seven of the program's eight participants. One participant reported that self esteem remained unchanged from the preliminary interview. Participants described six primary types of change: increased self confidence; increased self acceptance; improved capacity to engage in, strengthen and maintain satisfying interpersonal relationships; increased self knowledge; improved self discipline; and resolutions to existential questions. In addition, summary interview data revealed that participants were able to specify experiences, activities and events occurring within the context of the program which were representative of every facilitative category. Moreover, the relative absence of reported hindering incidents indicates that the hindering effect of the program on self esteem is negligible. Quantitative results did not corroborate the qualitative evidence for increased self esteem. An analysis of covariance applied to self esteem scores did not produce a significant difference between the participants and a control group. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Despite considerable improvements in women’s social and material conditions, progress has stagnated since the 1990s. Women remain disadvantaged compared to men across a range of domains, including political representation, division of labor, and workplace hiring and promotion. Although scholars have studied attitudes toward women more generally, understanding men’s attitudes toward women is especially important for advancing gender equality since men are often in positions of power with the resources and influence necessary to effect large-scale change. Previous research has measured demographic correlates of men’s gender attitudes, but scholars have yet to examine how gender attitudes are dynamic across contexts, shaped not only by the social characteristics of actors themselves but also by the context in which—and the women about whom—men express these attitudes. This dissertation draws on theories of status processes and social identity to examine how and under what conditions men support equality with women. Employing three complementary studies, this research takes an innovative, mixed-methods approach that combines in-depth interviews with experimental design. Specifically, it examines how men’s gender attitudes are shaped by 1) their audience 2) the target of their attitudes, i.e., the women in question and 3) men’s own life experiences. Together, these studies contribute a deeper understanding of the processes underlying men’s support for gender equality, suggesting actionable paths forward for addressing persistent gender inequities. Chapter 1 develops a synthesis of scholarship on gender attitudes and inequality with research on group processes and intergroup relations. I argue that relational, group-level theories of status, social identity, and symbolic boundaries can enrich our understanding of the persistence of gender inequality. In Chapter 2, I argue that expressing support for gender equality earns men social rewards. Results from an original survey experiment reveal that men who espouse egalitarian attitudes toward women are attributed greater status, considerateness, and authenticity. These findings provide the first causal evidence of the measurable social and symbolic rewards that men accrue by espousing egalitarian gender ideals. They also demonstrate a novel and paradoxical mechanism of status enhancement—egalitarian attitudes earn men status over other men at the same time that these men repudiate the legitimacy of their group advantage over women. Chapter 3 examines what impediments to addressing gender equality men anticipate. Drawing on 49 in-depth interviews, I find that men’s conversion of gender-egalitarian attitudes into actions that address gender inequality in daily life is contingent on perceived risks (social and material) and barriers (interpersonal and structural). The findings reveal how individual, relational, and institutional mechanisms impact men’s support for gender equality. Chapter 4 shifts the focus to the target of men’s gender attitudes, i.e., women. I employ an original experimental design to test how men’s levels of support for gender equality depend on the race and class identities of the women who stand to benefit. Results reveal previously obscured heterogeneity that helps explain persistent gender inequality despite men’s seemingly widespread support for egalitarian gender attitudes. Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of implications and potential directions for future research.

Prostate cancer is responsible for a substantial loss of life and burden of suffering among adult males. Evidence suggests that the risk of morbidity and mortality from prostate cancer can be reduced through specific screening and dietary practices (MCI, 2002; Ries et al., 2002). Further evidence suggests that screening can be encouraged by promoting health enhancing behaviors (e.g. regular preventative exams and discussing cancer with others) in the early adult years; yet nearly all studies of prostate cancer have focused on men over the age of forty. As a result, little is known about men's health-seeking behaviors related to prostate cancer including information-seeking behavior and intentions to screen or what men know of prostate cancer. Some evidence suggests that men may know as much (or more) about breast cancer in women as they know about prostate cancer (Chamot & Perneger, 2002). This pilot study sought to expand the current foundational research on men 18 to 40 years of age. The study was designed to a) describe young men's information-seeking behavior for prostate cancer; b) describe young men's knowledge of prostate cancer; c) contrast young men's information-seeking behavior and knowledge of prostate cancer with information-seeking behavior and knowledge for breast cancer; d) examine the correlation among constructs of the Health Belief Model (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, knowledge, cues to action) and intention to talk with others (family, friends, and physicians) about prostate cancer; and e) examine the correlation among constructs of the Health Belief Model and intention to seek a regular age-appropriate preventative physical examination. This cross-sectional study utilized a 46-question, multiple page, Internet-based survey. The survey was administered to 513 men between the ages of 18 and 40 years of age at Oregon State University. One hundred and five male students responded and completed the survey. Correlated groups t-tests, and Wilcoxan-signed rank tests were applied to examine differences in scores for prostate and breast cancer for various information-seeking behaviors. Hierarchical multiple correlation was applied to evaluate the relationship among constructs of the Health Belief Model. Lastly, one-way analysis of variance, and the Mann-Whitney Test were applied to analyze the independent relationships between various modifying factors of the Health Belief Model (educational attainment, income level, health status, and race) and intention. The findings of the study indicate that men talk with few others about prostate cancer, and generally are exposed to less information about prostate cancer than breast cancer. The study also demonstrated low knowledge among young adult males regarding both prostate and breast cancer, and indicated that substantial progress can be made to better inform males about these cancers. Lastly, results suggest that constructs of the Health Belief Model are correlated with intention to seek a regular preventative examination and intention to discuss prostate cancer with others. Together, the findings of this study highlight the need to improve knowledge of prostate cancer among men, increase early health-seeking behaviors, and encourage dialogue among men about prostate cancer and breast cancer. / Graduation date: 2005

Hegemonic masculinity (HM) is considered by many boys and men to be the "gold standard" of masculinity to which they are expected to conform (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). However, many boys feel that they fall short of this standard and are thus challenged to negotiate their sense of masculinity through positioning themselves in relation to masculine standards in various ways (Wetherell & Edley, 1999). This research therefore aims to explore the process of subject positioning in relation to HM and, if it occurs, the process of successfully aligning masculine identity with alternative (non-hegemonic) forms of masculinity. Eight late adolescent boys from rural KwaZulu-Natal were interviewed, and the data were qualitatively analysed by focussing on the boys' narratives used to describe masculinity and how they position themselves in relation to the various norms of masculinity. The results indicate that these boys did not show signs of having non-hegemonic masculinities. However, all boys reframed HM into a new discourse still based on the acceptance of the hegemonic domination over women and femininity (including less masculine boys), while disavowing practices relating to alcohol use, crime and risky sexual practices. This discourse represented a sanitised version of HM. It was suggested that boys maintain these multiple versions of masculinity in parallel, and use psychological splitting to maintain them. Soccer emerged as serving an important function for the creation and maintenance of these sanitised masculinities. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Although there are many studies that have examined explicit attitudes toward domestic violence, no studies to date have examined participants’ implicit attitudes towards this topic. The current research sought to address this absence and examined gender differences in implicit and explicit attitudes toward domestic violence. In addition, gender differences in attributions of responsibility and blame for an instance of domestic violence were examined. Participants’ implicit attitudes toward a female victim and male perpetrator of domestic violence were assessed using a modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). In addition, the Inventory of Beliefs About Wife Beating Scale (Saunders, Lynch, Grayson, & Linz, 1987) and an attribution for violence scale (Dexter, Penrod, Linz, & Saunders, 1997) were used. It was hypothesized that men would hold more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward victims of domestic violence than women. It was next hypothesized that when compared to women, men would assign more responsibility and blame for an instance of domestic violence to the victim. It was also hypothesized that participants’ responses on the explicit and implicit attitude measures would not be correlated with one another. Results for these hypotheses were mixed. Limitations to the current research and implications for future research and practice are discussed / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

“Understanding young Christian religious men’s constructions of masculine identity” This study aims to address the question of whether and how religious belief, affiliation and identity impacts on young men’s construction of masculine identity. Looking at how young men construct a socially acceptable masculinity, it explores how they position themselves in relation to this socially normative hegemonic masculinity. Alongside this, the study looks at whether and how young men construct alternative versions of masculinity and how a religious identity impacts on the young men’s masculine identities. Participants in the study (N=5) were all young men ranging in age from 18 to 25 years old, and all held a strong religious affiliation. Through a series of in-depth interviews, the participants gave their accounts of what it means to be a man in their lives, giving examples of how they both accepted and rejected the social norms of masculinity, as well as describing how their religious affiliation impacted on their lives. A common version of hegemonic masculinity was identified by the participants, characterised by male authority, emotional stoicism and symbolised through physical strength and material possessions. But alongside this the participants identified alternate versions of masculinity that tended to oppose hegemonic ideals. There was a strong focus from the participants on the impact of their religious affiliation on their masculine identity, with religious values taking precedence when in conflict with a hegemonic identity. It was found that the participants tended to perform a hybrid version of masculinity, with a hegemonic and religious identity existing in parallel. This new version of masculinity is argued to be an alternative version of a hegemonic masculinity that has emerged in response to their religious identity, and is consistent with other gendered developments in the South African context. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.