The relationship of masculine gender role stress to emotional expressiveness, psychophysiological reactivity, and social support

There has been increasing concern that the cultural imposition of masculine gender role norms contributes to physical and mental health disorders among men. The construct of masculine gender role stress (MGRS) is a gender based perspective of stress which posits that masculine gender role cognitive schemata are employed by men to appraise potential threat in the environment and guide their coping responses. Heavy reliance on these schemata is believed to increase stress and restrict coping behavior. The current study examined the relationship of MGRS to the appraisal and psychophysiological and behavioral responses of males in situations demanding emotional expression. Sixty male college students scoring in the upper and lower third of the MGRS scale distribution responded to role play scenarios designed to elicit angry and tender emotional responses. Subjects rated how stressful they found the tasks to be. Ratings of the level of nonverbal and verbal expressiveness in subjects' responses were also obtained. Cardiovascular reactivity was measured during subjects' verbal and nonverbal responses. The relationship of MGRS to social factors was examined by obtaining ratings of how likable subjects were while making their responses, and by having subjects respond to a social support questionnaire.;There was a nonsignificant trend for high MGRS subjects to appraise angry and tender emotional scenarios as more threatening, and to react to tender scenarios with greater increases in systolic blood pressure. There was a nonsignificant trend for low MGRS subjects to be more nonverbally expressive in both angry and tender scenarios. Low MGRS subjects were found to be significantly more satisfied with their social support. Contrary to prediction, there was a nonsignificant trend for high MGRS subjects to be more verbally expressive in tender scenarios, and high MGRS subjects were significantly better liked during their responses to tender scenarios; ratings of likability were highly correlated to verbal expressiveness ratings. Methodological problems which may have contributed to the overall lack of findings are discussed and suggestions are made for addressing these problems in future studies.