Why does traditional masculinity have such longevity, even among younger boys?

By Ashley Morgan, Cardiff Metropolitan University

We’ve all seen men lash out angrily when their masculinity is threatened – not least in Hollywood movies. And the extent of such behaviour has also been uncovered in scientific research. But how, when and why does this tendency arise?

A recent psychological study has found that some young boys display feelings of aggression when they feel their masculinity is being challenged. While it is well known that such feelings are present in some adult men, it is not until now that such research has focussed on adolescent boys between the ages of ten and 19.

The study assessed views on masculinity (along with self-reports on the stage of puberty) in more than 200 US boys between the ages of ten and 19. The boys were also asked to take a quiz including stereotypically “male” and “female” questions, such as “Which of these tools is a Phillips-head screwdriver?”. They were then given feedback on whether their score was more masculine or feminine – with the latter being a potential threat to their manhood.

Because it would be unethical to try to deliberately provoke children into aggressive behaviour, the boys were then asked to complete a commonly used cognitive task to measure how aggressive they felt in response to the feedback. This involved completing a series of words. For example, the letters “gu_” could become either “gun” (aggressive) or “gut” (not aggressive).

Many adolescent boys who reported being in mid-to-late puberty (but not before) demonstrated feelings of aggression in response to the perceived threat to their masculinity from the feminine feedback score. But this aggression was more common in the boys who reported external pressure to be seen as masculine, as shown by their agreement with statements such as “I act like a man because I want other people to like me”.

Boys who didn’t feel such external, social pressure, and instead agreed with statements such as “It’s important to me to act like a man”, did not show heightened aggression.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/why-does-traditional-masculinity-have-such-longevity-even-among-younger-boys-234823