A longitudinal study published in the Journal of Sex Research explores how socialization impacts young men’s adherence to masculine norms and how these norms influence their sexual relationships. Pressure from male peers, magazines, and music videos was associated with stronger adherence to traditional masculine norms one year later, and in turn, greater use of alcohol in sexual encounters.
In every culture, there are certain expectations for how men should behave. For example, traditional masculine norms in the U.S. expect that men control their emotions, dominate others, and demonstrate sexual prowess. Past research suggests that the extent that men endorse these masculine norms influences their sexual behaviors.
Study authors Matthew G. Nielson and his team aimed to explore this connection between masculine norm adherence and sexual behavior while considering the socialization that occurs during emerging adulthood. Specifically, they considered how various social agents (e.g., peers, parents, media) might uniquely impact young men’s masculine norm adherence and their ability to form healthy romantic or sexual relationships.
“My interest in the larger topic of masculinity and gender norms stems from my life experiences: I have three older sisters and when I was growing up, I generally did a lot of the same things they did,” explained Nielson (@MGSerengeti), a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan.
“From the reactions of my parents and peers I learned pretty early on which things were supposed to be more for girls and which things were for boys. I was fascinated by the writing and research I started finding on gender socialization when I was in college, and my work is all centered in that area. As this piece shows, I’m particularly interested in the unique effect of different people or influences on people’s masculinity and femininity, and there’s still a lot to be learned on this front.”
To explore how these factors influence each other over time, the researchers conducted their study across two time points. A final sample of 181 male undergraduate university students between the ages of 18 and 22 completed two questionnaires, each spaced one year apart. At both time points, the surveys assessed adherence to nine traditional masculine norms which were: winning, heterosexual presentation, violence, power over women, being a playboy, emotional control, risk-taking, self-reliance, and primacy of work.
The young men also answered questions about the pressure they felt from their fathers and from male peers to conform to masculine stereotypes. They further responded to questions about their exposure to popular men’s magazines, TV sitcoms, and music videos. Finally, the participants completed measures of romantic relationship self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem, and the frequency with which they consumed alcohol before sexual encounters.
Overall, the finding suggested that each male norm was moderately endorsed by the young men. While the norms of winning and violence were endorsed significantly more than the other masculine norms, the norm of power over women was endorsed significantly less than the others.
Participants who reported greater pressure to conform to masculine stereotypes from male peers also reported higher adherence to masculine norms in general. Further, they uniquely reported greater adherence to the specific norms of being a playboy, winning, power over women, and risk-taking. Participants who listened to more music videos also reported greater adherence to masculine norms in general, and uniquely, power over women and self-reliance.
Interestingly, stronger pressure from fathers to conform to stereotypes did not predict adherence to masculine norms. While this suggests that pressure from fathers does not play a strong role in young men’s endorsement of masculine norms, there are likely contextual factors at play. For example, the extent that a father has an impact on his son likely depends on whether his son lives at home and the type of father-son relationship they have. Interestingly, exposure to TV sitcoms was related to lower endorsement of masculine norms, possibly because such shows tend to critique or poke fun at masculine stereotypes.
The findings also suggested that masculine norms influenced young men’s ideas and behaviors surrounding sex. Young men with greater adherence to the masculine norms of being a playboy, heterosexual presentation, and power over women reported a greater proportion of alcohol-primed sexual experiences one year later. Men with greater adherence to playboy and risk-taking norms reported higher sexual self-esteem one year later. And men who more strongly endorsed norms of emotional control and self-reliance reported lower romantic relationship self-efficacy one year later.
“What I like about this piece is that it shows how socialization about masculinity is connected to interpersonal outcomes and that this process doesn’t stop once men are no longer children or teenagers! We show how the messages about what men should do and be that young men hear relate to their beliefs about masculinity, and that these beliefs then go on to influence whether or not men drank alcohol before engaging in sexual encounters,” Nielson told PsyPost.
There were some limitations to the study — one of which was that the masculine norms being presented in the media were assumed to reflect traditional stereotypes, although this was not measured. Nevertheless, the study sheds new light on the unique influence of different social agents on young men’s adherence to masculine norms and how these norms might impact their sexual relationships.
“An important future direction is to test the directionality of these results,” Nielson said. “Although we looked to see how media exposure related to adherence to masculine norms, it is also very likely that men who identify as more traditionally masculine spend more time with traditionally masculine media content. ”
“I’m particularly fond of my interpretation of one of our more interesting findings: we found that exposure to sitcoms had the opposite effect of male peers and magazines,” the researcher added. “Specifically, the more sitcoms men watched, the less they adhered to traditional masculine norms. Others have written about how sitcoms may counter traditional masculinity by portraying egalitarian, progressive, or emotionally sensitive men, but I ask whether sitcoms do this by portraying men as incompetent (think Homer Simpson). So although exposure to sitcoms might counter stereotypes about how men should be domineering or misogynistic, now they might be promoting stereotypes about men being incompetent.”
The study, “The Roots and Fruits of Masculinity: Social Antecedents and Sexual Relationship Consequences of Young Men’s Adherence to Masculine Norms”, was authored by Matthew G. Nielson, L. Monique Ward, Rita C. Seabrook, and Soraya Giaccardi.
