Ronald F. Levant

Toward the reconstruction of masculinity

Describes the crisis of masculinity, and proposes a reconstruction of masculinity. The reconstruction separates the valuable aspects of traditional masculinity, which deserve to be honored, from those that are obsolete and dysfunctional (e.g., aggression). Some of the positive attributes are the mans ability to withstand hardship and pain to protect others, willingness to set aside his own needs for the sake of his family, and tendency to take care of people and solve their problems as if they were his own. Discussion focuses on gender role socialization, parent-child dynamics, and cultural dynamics as they relate to the proposed reconstruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

A Review of Research on Masculinity Ideologies Using the Male Role Norms Inventory

Within the past twenty five years, the new psychology of men has pioneered advancements in understanding and conceptualizing gender role expectations using the Gender Role Strain Paradigm. Gender ideology, an individuals in-ternalization of cultural belief systems regarding gender role norms, is the core construct of the Gender Role Strain Paradigm. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive summary of findings from research on masculinity ideologies using the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI) conducted over the past 15 years. A review of data on the psychometric properties of the MRNI, along with cross-cultural and cross-national analyses will be presented, as will the relationship between traditional ideologies and other constructs. The article concludes with suggested directions for future research and practice using the MRNI.

Impact of Gender Role Conflict, Traditional Masculinity Ideology, Alexithymia, and Age on Men's Attitudes Toward Psychological Help Seeking.

Adult male volunteers (N = 155) completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale-I, Male Role Norms Inventory—Revised, Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, and Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. Data were analyzed using regression analysis. Results indicate that men who scor

Family psychology: Science-based interventions.

A presentation of perspectives on the science of family intervention in psychology. The editors provide a concise historical overview of this emerging field, which is considered the applied branch of family psychology. Experts in the field present therapy techniques, procedures and research strategies that are empirically-based. The contributors stress the need to link research and practice so that the questions targeted by researchers are those confronted by clinicians and the results can directly influence the practice of family therapy. Also emphasized is the need to identify specific patient characteristics that set these patients apart from the rest of the population and, if addressed in a more focused manner, would enhance the effectiveness of the intervention. Chapters offer strong empirical evidence and developments for the treatment of a wide variety of marriage and family problems. Advances in couples and marital research include conceptual frameworks and treatments aimed at preventing marital distress and divorce and promoting marital adjustment. Chapters on family research discuss promising areas and challenges in moving prevention science into broader community settings, the specific value of prevention efforts, and the role of the family in these efforts. There are chapters focusing on contextual considerations, which highlight the many ways in which gender and cultural factors can influence core constructs and processes.

Contemporary fathers reconstructing masculinity: Clinical implications of gender role strain

How can research data about gender role strain improve clinical work with men? The authors present qualitative data from 3 groups of fathers in the Yeshiva University Fatherhood Project: Haitian American, Promise Keeper, and gay fathers. The data illustrate the specific types of gender role strain associated with contemporary fathering and show how men are spontaneously reconstructing fathering and masculinity in general. The authors use clinical examples to show how psychologists can make use of this research knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of men.

Initial Validation of the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised (MRNI-R)

This article reports the results of the initial evaluation of the revised version of the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI-R). The MRNI-R assesses only traditional male role norms (thus dropping the Non-Traditional Attitudes subscale of the original MRNI), revises the labeling and content of the Self-Reliance subscale, drops the Achievement/Status subscale and substitutes the Dominance subscale, and updates the language throughout the instrument. The MRNI-R was administered to 170 undergraduate and graduate students (38 men and 132 women). One hundred and seven initial items were reduced to fifty-three items following iterative analyses of item-to-subscale correlations. Improved reliabilities were found for the MRNI-R and its subscales, with Cronbach alphas ranging from .73 to .96. Significant sex and racial/ethnic differences were found with respect to the endorsement of traditional masculinity ideology, providing support for its construct validity.

Research in the psychology of men and masculinity using the gender role strain paradigm as a framework.

This article introduces the specialty area of the psychology of men and masculinity to the broader community of American psychologists, focusing on research conducted using the gender role strain paradigm. The review covers the rationale for and aims of the psychology of men and masculinity and the gender role strain paradigm. It provides an extensive discussion of masculinity ideologies--the core construct in the strain paradigm--including the definition of masculinity ideology and considerations of masculinity ideology versus masculinity ideologies, traditional masculinity ideology, the measurement of masculinity ideologies, the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised, womens and adolescents masculinity ideologies, and conformity to masculine norms. It then takes up the 3 types of masculine gender role strain (discrepancy, dysfunction, and trauma) and the normative male alexithymia hypothesis. Finally, it considers future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

Masculinity ideology among young African American and European American women and men in different regions of the United States.

This is a report of 2 studies. Study 1, a replication of R.F. Levant and R.G. Majors (1997), examined variations in the endorsement of traditional and nontraditional masculinity ideology, by gender and race, among 270 African American and 226 European American young men and women using the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI; Levant & Fischer, in press). Although both gender and race differences in masculinity ideology were significant, gender had a larger effect size. Study 2, focused on the effect of residence in different geographic regions of the country, compared the MRNI scores of the more metropolitan Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic sample of the present study with those of the more rural Southern sample used by Levant and Majors. This study found that the effect of geographic place of residence moderates the effect of race on masculinity ideology, which underscores the importance of subcultural variations (e.g., metropolitan vs. rural) within cultural groups defined by race.

The normative Male Alexithymia Scale: Measurement of a gender-linked syndrome.

This series of studies assessed the psychometric properties of the Normative Male Alexithymia Scale (NMAS), a brief scale designed to assess normative male alexithymia. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using separate samples (n = 248 and 467, respectively) indicated that the NMAS consist

Using qualitative research to strengthen clinical practice.

What does qualitative research have to offer individual practitioners? The authors in this special section argue that qualitative research is particularly suited to enhancing clinical practice because it generates a rich description of both local contexts and individual subjective experiences. This rich description can then be used to improve clinical practice and also to generate knowledge about both the process and the outcome of psychological services. In this first article, we provide an overview of the qualitative research paradigm and the many different kinds of qualitative methodologies that exist, discuss how it can be adapted to clinical practice, and provide an example of a qualitative study that practitioners can accomplish. The two articles that follow describe specific examples of qualitative work in more depth. The Qualitative Paradigm