Danielle S. Berke

Man enough? Masculine discrepancy stress and intimate partner violence.

Research on gender roles suggests that men who strongly adhere to traditional masculine gender norms are at increased risk for the perpetration of violent and abusive acts toward their female intimate partners. Yet, gender norms alone fail to provide a comprehensive explanation of the multifaceted construct of intimate partner violence (IPV) and there is theoretical reason to suspect that men who fail to conform to masculine roles may equally be at risk for IPV. In the present study, we assessed effect of masculine discrepancy stress, a form of distress arising from perceived failure to conform to socially-prescribed masculine gender role norms, on IPV. Six-hundred men completed online surveys assessing their experience of discrepancy stress, masculine gender role norms, and history of IPV. Results indicated that masculine discrepancy stress significantly predicted mens historical perpetration of IPV independent of other masculinity related variables. Findings are discussed in terms of potential distress engendered by masculine socialization as well as putative implications of gender role discrepancy stress for understanding and intervening in partner violence perpetrated by men.

Gender Role Discrepancy Stress, High-Risk Sexual Behavior, and Sexually Transmitted Disease

Nearly 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur every year in the United States. Traditionally, men have demonstrated much greater risk for contraction of and mortality from STDs perhaps because they tend to engage in a number of risky sexual activities. Research on masculinity suggests that gender roles influence males’ sexual health by encouraging risk-taking behavior, discouraging access to health services, and narrowly defining their roles as partners. However, despite the propensity of highly masculine men to engage in high-risk sexual behavior, there is reason to suspect that men at the other end of the continuum may still be driven to engage in similar high-risk behaviors as a consequence of gender socialization. Discrepancy stress is a form of gender role stress that occurs when men fail to live up to the ideal manhood derived from societal prescriptions (i.e., Gender Role Discrepancy). In the present study, we surveyed a national sample of 600 men via Amazon Mechanical Turk to assess perceived gender role discrepancy, experience of discrepancy stress, and the associations with risky sexual behavior and potential contraction of STDs. Results indicated that men who believe they are less masculine than the typical man (i.e., gender role discrepancy) and experience distress stemming from this discrepancy (i.e., discrepancy stress) engage in high-risk sexual behavior and are subsequently diagnosed with more STDs. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for primary prevention strategies.

Take it like a man: Gender-threatened men’s experience of gender role discrepancy, emotion activation, and pain tolerance.

Theory suggests that men respond to situations in which their gender status is threatened with emotions and behaviors meant to reaffirm manhood. However, the extent to which threats to masculine status impact gender role discrepancy (perceived failure to conform to socially prescribed masculine gender role norms) has yet to be demonstrated empirically. Nor has research established whether gender role discrepancy is itself predictive of engagement in gender-stereotyped behavior following threats to gender status. In the present study, we assessed the effect of threats to masculinity on gender role discrepancy and a unique gender-shaped phenomenon, pain tolerance. Two-hundred twelve undergraduate men were randomly assigned to receive feedback that was either threatening to masculine identity or nonthreatening. Over the course of the study, participants also completed measures of gender role discrepancy, emotion activation, and objectively measured pain tolerance. Results indicated that gender threat predicted increased self-perceived gender role discrepancy and elicited aggression, but not anxiety-related cognitions in men. Moreover, gender-threatened men evinced higher pain tolerance than their nonthreatened counterparts. Collectively, these findings provide compelling support for the theory that engagement in stereotyped masculine behavior may serve a socially expressive function intended to quell negative affect and realign men with the status of “manhood.”

Utilizing a dialectical framework to inform conceptualization and treatment of clinical distress in transgender individuals.

Despite increased awareness of transgender lives and experiences, evidence suggests that transgender and gender nonconforming individuals continue to be exposed to pervasive invalidation and discrimination in the dominant culture. As such, culturally tailored treatment approaches are needed for meeting the mental health care needs of this marginalized population. Although recent theoretical and empirical advances have been made linking experiences of invalidation and discrimination to mental health disparities at a population level, conceptual models accounting for mental health consequences of invalidation at the individual level are lacking. As such, this article provides a detailed application of the Biosocial Model, the theoretical basis of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), to the conceptualization and treatment of clinical distress in transgender individuals struggling to effectively cope with chronic invalidation of gender diversity. Application of DBT-informed case conceptualization and skills-training tailored to gender diverse people is provided with the goal of empowering clinicians with practical approaches for promoting the psychological health and flourishing of transgender and gender-nonconforming patients.

Masculine Discrepancy Stress, Emotion-Regulation Difficulties, and Intimate Partner Violence

Research suggests that masculine socialization processes contribute to the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) by men. Although this research has traditionally focused on men who strongly adhere to traditional gender norms, men who negatively evaluate themselves as falling short of these norms (a construct termed masculine discrepancy stress) have proven to be at increased risk of IPV perpetration. Likewise, men experiencing problems with emotion regulation, a multidimensional construct reflecting difficulties in effectively experiencing and responding to emotional states, are also at risk of IPV perpetration. In the present research, we tested the hypothesis that the link between discrepancy stress and IPV perpetration is mediated via difficulties in emotion regulation. Three hundred fifty-seven men completed online surveys assessing their experience of discrepancy stress, emotion-regulation difficulties, and history of IPV perpetration. Results indicated that discrepancy-stressed men’s use of physical IPV was fully mediated by emotion-regulation difficulties. In addition, emotion-regulation difficulties partially mediated the association between discrepancy stress and sexual IPV. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential utility of emotion-focused interventions for modifying men’s experience and expression of discrepancy stress and reducing perpetration of IPV.

Masculine discrepancy stress, substance use, assault and injury in a survey of US men

To understand and ultimately prevent injury and behavioural health outcomes associated with masculinity, we assessed the influence of masculine discrepancy stress (stress that occurs when men perceive themselves as falling short of the traditional gender norms) on the propensity to engage in stereotypically masculine behaviours (eg, substance use, risk taking and violence) as a means of demonstrating masculinity. Six-hundred men from the USA were recruited via Amazons Mechanical Turk (MTurk) online data collection site to complete surveys assessing self-perceptions of gender role discrepancy and consequent discrepancy stress, substance use/abuse, driving while intoxicated (DWI) and violent assaults. Negative binomial regression analyses indicated significant interactive effects wherein men high on gender role discrepancy and attendant discrepancy stress reported significantly more assaults with a weapon (B=1.01; SE=0.63; IRR=2.74; p=0.05) and assaults causing injury (B=1.01; SE=0.51; IRR=2.74; p<0.05). There was no association of discrepancy stress to substance abuse, but there was a protective effect of gender role discrepancy for DWI among men low on discrepancy stress (B=−1.19, SE=0.48; IRR=0.30; p=0.01). These findings suggest that gender role discrepancy and associated discrepancy stress, in particular, represent important injury risk factors and that prevention of discrepancy stress may prevent acts of violence with the greatest consequences and costs to the victim, offender and society.

Psychopathy Traits and Violent Assault Among Men With and Without History of Arrest

Although research suggests that the antisocial behavior (ASB) facet of psychopathy generally carries the greatest predictive power for future violence, these findings are drawn primarily from forensic samples and may reflect criterion contamination between historical violence and future violence perpetration. Likewise, these findings do not negate the association of other psychopathy facets to violence or their role in the development of violence, nor do they offer practical utility in the primary prevention of violence. There are a number of empirical and theoretical reasons to suspect that the callous affect (CA) facet of psychopathy may demonstrate stronger statistical association to violence in nonforensic populations. We tested the association of CA to severe acts of violence (e.g., assault with intent to harm, injure, rape, or kill) among men with and without history of arrest (N = 600) using both the three- and four-facet models of psychopathy. CA was robustly associated with violence outcomes across the two groups in the three-facet model. When testing the four-facet model, CA was strongly associated with violence outcomes among men with no history of arrest, but only moderately associated with assaults causing injury among men with history of arrest. These results are consistent with data from youth populations that implicate early emotional deficits in later aggressive behavior and suggest CA may help to identify individuals at risk for violence before they become violent. Implications for the public health system and the primary prevention of violence are discussed.

Psychosocial rehabilitation after war trauma with adaptive disclosure: Design and rationale of a comparative efficacy trial

BACKGROUND Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from warzone exposure is associated with chronic and disabling social and occupational problems. However, functional impairment is rarely assessed or targeted directly in PTSD treatments, which instead focus on symptom reduction. Trauma-related contributors to diminished functioning, including guilt, shame, and anger resulting from morally compromising or loss-based war experiences, are also underemphasized. The goal of this clinical trial is to fill a substantial gap in the treatment of military-related PTSD by testing a modified Adaptive Disclosure (AD) therapy for war-related PTSD stemming from moral injury and traumatic loss focused on improving psychosocial functioning AD. METHOD AND DESIGN This paper describes the rationale and design of a multi-site randomized controlled trial comparing AD to Present-Centered Therapy (PCT). We will recruit 186 veterans with PTSD, who will be assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and 3- and 6-months post-treatment. Primary outcomes are functional changes (i.e., functioning/disability and quality of life). Secondary outcomes are mental health variables (i.e., PTSD, depression, guilt, shame). We hypothesize that veterans treated with AD will experience greater improvements in all outcomes compared to those treated with PCT. DISCUSSION This trial will advance knowledge in rehabilitation research by testing the first therapy specifically designed to address psychosocial functioning among veterans with war-related PTSD. The results may improve the quality of mental health care for veterans by offering an ecologically sound treatment for experiences that are uniquely impactful for war veterans.

Do beliefs about gender roles moderate the relationship between exposure to misogynistic song lyrics and men's female-directed aggression?

Although independent lines of research have identified misogynistic lyrical content and traditional gender role beliefs as reliable predictors of mens female-directed aggression, more research is needed to understand the extent to which these variables may function in synthesis to potentiate aggression. In the current study, men (N = 193), who completed questionnaires relevant to their conformity to masculine norms and level of hostile and benevolent sexism, were exposed to either misogynistic or neutral lyrics before having the opportunity to shock an ostensible female confederate in a bogus reaction time task that, in effect, measured aggression. Results indicated that misogynistic lyrics and hostile sexism significantly predicted both unprovoked and provoked aggression against a female target. Contrary to expectations, moderating effects of gender role beliefs on the relationship between misogynistic lyrics and mens aggression were not found. Implications are discussed in terms of the costs of misogyny in media for womens lives. Aggr. Behav. 43:123-132, 2017.

Self-Blame and PTSD Following Sexual Assault: A Longitudinal Analysis:

Sexual assault is a prevalent trauma associated with high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Social cognitive theories posit that behavioral self-blame (i.e., attributing the cause of the assault to personal peri-event behavior) contributes to the etiology and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. Yet the direction of the association between self-blame and PTSD symptoms in the acute aftermath of sexual assault is unknown. This study evaluated temporal pathways between behavioral self-blame and PTSD symptom severity in an epidemiological sample of sexual assault survivors ( n = 126) assessed at four time points in the months immediately following the assault. Results of cross-lagged panel modeling revealed that reports of behavioral self-blame at the first assessment following sexual assault predicted PTSD symptom severity at Time 2. However, there was no association between behavioral self-blame at Time 2 and PTSD symptom severity at Time 3, nor was there an association between behavioral self-blame at Time 3 and PTSD symptom severity at Time 4. Instead, PTSD symptom severity predicted behavioral self-blame at Times 3 and 4. Findings suggest that behavioral self-blame following sexual assault may be particularly relevant to the onset of PTSD symptoms, while PTSD symptoms themselves appear to intensify subsequent perceptions of behavioral self-blame. Clinical implications and limitations are discussed.