Traditional masculinity can be psychologically harmful. 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).
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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 determinants of men’s health continue receiving little attention, men’s life expectancy will continue decreasing and which is currently three years less than that of women (Springer & Mouzon, 2011).
References
American Psychological Association, Boys and Men Guidelines Group. (2018). APA guidelines for psychological practice with boys and men . Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/about/policy/psychological-practice-boys-men-guidelines.pdf
Englar-Carlson, M., & Kiselica, M. (2013). Affirming the Strengths in Men: A Positive Masculinity Approach to Assisting Male Clients. Journal Of Counseling & Development , 91 (4), 399-409. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00111.x
Mahalik, J., Good, G., Tager, D., Levant, R., & Mackowiak, C. (2012). Developing a taxonomy of helpful and harmful practices for clinical work with boys and men. Journal Of Counseling Psychology , 59 (4), 591-603. doi: 10.1037/a0030130
Ojedokun, O., & Idemudia, E. (2014). Psycho-socio-emotional Well-being of Workers in a High- Stress Occupation: Are Men and Women Really So Different. Ife Centre For Psychological Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria , 12 (3).
Springer, K., & Mouzon, D. (2011). “Macho Men” and Preventive Health Care. Journal Of Health And Social Behavior , 52 (2), 212-227. doi: 10.1177/0022146510393972
