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Ten Years of Psychological Research on Men and Masculinity in the United States: Dominant Methodological Trends

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Abstract

The psychological study of men and masculinity is rapidly growing. Despite this growth, few attempts have been made to critically evaluate progress in the field, and no studies to date have analyzed methodological trends in empirical research on men and masculinity. The purpose of this study was to identify the dominant trends in psychological research on men and masculinity published in the United States between 1995 and 2004. One hundred seventy-eight articles were selected and coded on 21 dimensions. Descriptive statistics revealed that quantitative, correlational, and nonobservational methods dominate research in this field. Further, the inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities was found to be quite low and researchers tended to rely on convenience samples of undergraduates. It also appears that there was little variety in the masculinity measures used. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Nathanial Alapatt for his help in coding the articles for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Clark University, 950 Main St., Worcester, MA, 01610, USA

    MySha R. Whorley & Michael E. Addis

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  1. MySha R. Whorley
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  2. Michael E. Addis
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Correspondence to MySha R. Whorley.

Additional information

Preparation of this article was supported by grant no. R34 MH073073 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Whorley, M.R., Addis, M.E. Ten Years of Psychological Research on Men and Masculinity in the United States: Dominant Methodological Trends. Sex Roles 55, 649–658 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9120-1

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