Masculine Norms and Harmful Outcomes: Making the Case and Measuring the Connections

• In Event: Building the evidence base for better male engagement programming

Proposal

While biology may play a role in shaping a tendency toward certain forms of violence and health-related behaviors, the “nature” of men and boys is not the sole predictor of their behaviors or experiences. Rather, boys and men are often raised, socialized, and/or encouraged to be violent and to embrace unhealthy behaviors depending on their social surroundings and life conditions.

Why is it that men and boys are disproportionately likely to perpetrate so many forms of violence, to turn to other criminal behaviors, to abuse drugs and alcohol, to exhibit isolation and depressive symptoms, and to die by suicide? This presentation will demonstrate the ways in which social norms about gender and masculinity link strongly with these harmful outcomes. It will focus on three elements of this analysis: theory, evidence, and methodological innovations.

Drawing upon two recent publications, the presentation will rapidly overview the theoretical foundations for exploring health and violence outcomes in relation to norms about masculinity.

Next, the presentation will share results from studies in five countries: Australia, Jamaica, Mexico, United Kingdom, and United States. To varying degrees, these studies are able to demonstrate empirical links between young men’s attitudes about gender and their behaviors in many domains of interest to CIES attendees: mental health, friendship and support-seeking, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying/cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and intimate partner violence.

To assist attendees interested in measuring the nature and influence of gender norms in their own communities of practice, the presentation will also introduce two methodological innovations:

• Psychometric evaluation and development of a five item short scale.
• Costing methodology based on available national datasets to determine a minimum economic impact of harmful masculine norms.

These three overarching topics – theory, evidence, and methods – will also provide a framework for the remaining presentations on the panel. Attendees will leave this presentation with an better understanding of the harms of common masculine norms and access to new research and methods to inform and shape their own work.

Author

• Deboleena Rakshit, Promundo