What Does It Mean to Be a Real Man? Asian American College Men's Masculinity Ideology

Published In

Psychology of Men & Masculinities

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

10-1-2020

Abstract

The majority of research on masculinity ideology has been conducted using quantitative measures developed with predominantly European American samples. The cultural homogeneity embedded in these measures’ development brings into question their validity and reliability when applied to other populations of men such as Asian American men. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the characteristics that Asian American men identify when describing ideal masculinity. Heterosexual Asian American college men (N = 89) were asked, “What does it mean to be a real man?” Themes deduced from normative masculinity expectations and inductive themes were applied to participants’ responses to identify themes reflecting a widely used measure of traditional masculinity ideology as well as those that may be unique and/or particularly relevant to Asian American men. Participant responses included more themes that are not covered by the standard measure of traditional masculinity ideology than those that are. Future studies should investigate the distribution (e.g., clustering or normality) of traditional and culturally specific male role norm beliefs, examine masculinity ideology in combination with other Asian cultural factors (e.g., loss of face, acculturation/enculturation), and develop culturally responsive quantitative measures of masculinity ideology for Asian American men. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Rights

© 2020 American Psychological Association.

DOI

10.1037/men0000316

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34403

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