Toxic Masculinity Is a Men's Issue Too

Problem Statement 

For several years, psychology focused on men only, particularly white men, to the omission of all others. Today, men still dominate in various spheres of life including politics and professional life. However, something is also amiss for men. Men reportedly commit ninety percent of homicides in the U.S. and represent close to eighty percent of homicide victims (Spjeldnes, Jung, & Yamatani, 2014) . They remain to be the demographic group at the highest risk of being victimized by violent crime. It has also been found that men are more than three times more likely to commit suicide than women and that their life expectancy is almost five years shorter than their female counterparts’ (Barber, Bridges, & Nelson, 2019) . These statistics are particularly significant among men of color (Barber, Bridges, & Nelson, 2019) . Previously, psychology not only left out men of color and conformed to the stereotypes of gender roles but also failed to consider the gendered experiences of men. Subsequently, researchers have shifted their focus om traditional masculinity which is typified by aggression, dominance, competitiveness, and stoicism, which on the whole have been found to be harmful (Pappas, 2019) . 

Accordingly, this study addresses the potential harmful psychosocial and emotional effects of toxic masculinity among African American males. Traditional masculinity can be psychologically harmful (Pappas, 2019) . While men draw various benefits from patriarchy, masculinity may also impinge on their well-being. In all the traditional societies, men are perceived to be masculine and beings with an added advantage compared to women. The socialization for conforming to the traditional masculinity has limited the psychological development of men and boys, constrain their behavior and at the end, result in gender role conflict as well as strain. Males are overrepresented in various social problems such as prisons, prevalence to commit crime as well as being victims of violent crime such as aggravated assault and homicide There is substantial research evidence that supports the need to address the gender dynamics for both males and females in psychological practice. Considering depression cases, women are known to be prone to depression compared to men. However, more than six million males in the United States suffer depression with high rates of suicide compared to women (Mahalik, Good, Tager, Levant & Mackowiak, 2012). 

Psychosocial, emotional wellbeing can be approached from the needs theory perspective. In this case, people achieve psycho-social emotional wellbeing when specific psychological needs are met. In the hierarchy of these needs, the most basic needs must be met first. The basic needs are psychological, followed by security and safety needs, love or affiliation needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs, respectively (Ojedokun & Idemudia, 2014). If there is a problem with these needs, traditional masculinity can be psychologically harmful. There are numerous potential negative consequences to the field or stakeholders if the proposed research to address the problem is never conducted. If the deleterious psychosocial and emotional effects of toxic masculinity on men are not explicated and attempts made to solve them, men would be at an increased risk of suffering the negative consequences of toxic masculinity. 

Purpose Statement 

Study method 

The study will employ the quantitative method to examine whether traditional masculinity can be psychologically harmful in the workplace. Despite there being numerous articles about masculinity and psychology, studies in the area of traditional masculinity are limited as there are no worthwhile research questions around them. This creates an impetus for the present study. This part forms the foundation of the thesis (Lewkowicz, 2012). 

Study design 

The paper will adopt a meta-analysis study design where different researches will be critiqued and informed conclusions sourced from them. Similarly, to the study method, meta-analysis is often used among psychological studies (Lloyd, Schmidt, Khondoker, & Tchanturia, 2015; Cusack et al., 2016) 

Constructs/variables 

From the nature of the study, the primary variables are masculinity and various psychologically harmful in the workplace tendencies such as capitalism, leadership, reporting, vulnerability and transparency as defined by Sculos (2017) in his article on toxic masculinity. 

Target population 

The target population of the study is men whose masculinity can be defined as traditional historically focused on a stoic confidence, discouraging emotional expression in the workplace. This will guide the type of studies to be used for the study as they have to be about the nature of masculinity. 

Research setting 

The research will be conducted in a place with ample impact to community leaders such as Health Care Insurance Networks that will aid in the search for articles of interest in the databases, as mentioned above. 

Sampling frame 

The study will adopt articles that are published in English, entail a particular aspect of toxic masculinity, and are published no later than 2009. 

Sampling method 

To locate the articles, purposive sampling will be used, where only articles that meet the above criteria will be used in the study (Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim, 2016). 

Sample size 

Thorlund & Mills (2012) support the adoption of a priori estimate for calculating the sample size in a direct meta-analysis. Adequacy in sample size in a meta-analysis leads to a power analysis for the study (Thorlund, Anema, & Mills, 2010). Accordingly, this study will involve the meta-analysis of ten different studies on masculinity. 

Data collection method 

Data collection will entail criticizing each of the articles that make it to the sample size. As it is a meta-analysis, tools such as the questionnaire become obsolete. The study will use secondary data from published articles in notable databases such as Library.NCU.edu, Google Scholar and PubMed, since this method is common among psychological researches (Wong, Steinfeldt, Speight, & Hickman, 2010; Schrok & Schwalbe, 2009). 

Data analysis method 

The analysis of the data will use both descriptive and inferential statistics (Hinton, McMurray, & Brownlow, 2014). Effect sizes for willingness to seek mental health services will be determined. 

Software to be used for analysis 

The data collected will be analyzed using the SPSS computer software. 

Closing statement as to how the study results may inform theory 

The findings from the study can, later on, be used to develop effective interventions for the traditional masculinity in the workplace. Also, the results may indicate a gap in knowledge that has often been overlooked by researchers in the psychological field. 

Research Questions 

Qualitative Research Questions 

What do men who vary in their adherence to toxic masculinity norms report concerning their willingness to seek mental health services ? 

What is the effect of stigmatization on the willingness of men to seek mental medical services? 

What societal expectations do men who vary in their toxic masculinity tendencies cite to be compounding their mental health problems? 

Quantitative Research Questions 

In a random sample of men, does score on a toxic masculinity scale significantly predict willingness to seek mental health services? 

In a random sample of men, do cost implications have an effect on tendencies to seek healthcare services? 

Hypotheses 

Null hypothesis: In a random sample of men, score on a toxic masculinity scale significantly predicts willingness to seek mental health services. 

Alternative Hypothesis: In a random sample of men, the score on a toxic masculinity scale does not significantly predict willingness to seek mental health services . 

Null hypothesis: In a random sample of men, cost implications have a significant effect on tendencies to seek healthcare services 

Alternative hypothesis: In a random sample of men, cost implications have no significant effect on tendencies to seek healthcare services. 

The null hypotheses can be tested and proven through research data. The rates of men who seek mental health care can also be established, and factors that hinder it. According to Wong (2019), the number of people who commit suicide in the world is about 800,000, with 500,000 being men. It is an indication that men are highly affected by mental issues problems, opting to commit suicide since they are faced with stigma, which affects seeking mental healthcare. In the United States, men commit 75 % of suicidal deaths (Wong, 2019). The fears of seeking mental healthcare are related to financial and career concerns. Men are held by masculinity and manhood beliefs, where holding down a job indicates the ability to take care of the family (Schrock & Schwalbe, 2009). If they do not live to the standards, they consider themselves failures. It thus explains the high rates of mental health problems among working men.     

References  

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