Navigating Masculinity: Exploring Threats and Responses in the Chinese Cultural Context

Lin, Zhenghao (2024) Navigating Masculinity: Exploring Threats and Responses in the Chinese Cultural Context. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

The masculinity crisis has become a heated topic in China for the last decade. Unlike the Western world, masculinity as an analytic concept has not caught enough attention in Asia until recent years (Ikeya, 2014). Numerous studies have examined the relationships between masculinity threat, masculine discrepancy, and men’s responses toward masculinity threat in “WEIRD” cultural contexts. Stanaland et al. (2022) proposed an Expectancy-Discrepancy-Threat Model to explain the dynamics among them. However, this model has not been tested yet, especially in a Chinese context. In the current study, we examined whether being confronted with a masculinity threat would elevate masculine discrepancy, consequently leading to increased externalized and internalized responses among Chinese heterosexual men. We conducted an experimental study (N=273) where we manipulated masculinity threat with a deceptive “gender traits test”. The result showed no significant difference in either masculine discrepancy or responses to outcome variables. However, an unexpected negative correlation between masculine discrepancy and negative attitudes towards outgroups (female and gay people) was detected. We proposed possible explanations from both theoretical perspectives and study-implementation perspectives, along with recommendations for future research.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Aksu, A.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2024 14:53
Last Modified:	28 Feb 2024 14:53
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3170

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