Machismo, gender role conflict, and mental health in Mexican American men.

T ex as T ech U n iv ersity The authors investigated the relations among machismo, gender role conflict, and mental health in 113 Mexican American m en recruited from campus organizations and the local community. Regression analyses controlling fo r acculturation indicated that machismo and gender role conflict both predicted levels o f stress and depression. Higher levels o f machismo and restrictive emotion- ality were associated with higher levels o f depression and stress. The interaction o f machismo and gender role conflict was not a significant predictor o f either stress o r depression. Implications o f the findings for counseling and future research are discussed. A n em erg in g field o f in terest in co u n selin g p sy ch o l- o g y in v o lv es th e ex p lo ratio n o f m ascu lin e id eo lo g y an d th e relatio n b etw een m ascu lin e id eo lo g y an d m en - tal h ealth . G o o d , W allace, an d B o rst (1 9 9 4 ) stated th at "m ascu lin ity id eo lo g y refers to an in d iv id u al's d eg ree o f en d o rsem en t an d in tern alizatio n o f cu ltu ral b elief sy stem s ab o u t m ascu lin ity an d th e m ascu lin e g en d er ro le" (p. 3). A cco rd in g to O 'N e il, m ale ch ild ren an d ad u lts are co n tin u ally so cialized acco rd in g to a fo rm o f m ascu lin e id eo lo g y O 'N e il term ed th e m ascu lin e m y s- tiq u e an d v alu e sy stem (O 'N eil, 19 8 1 a, 19 8 1 b , 1982; O 'N e il, G o o d , & H o lm es, 1 9 95 ), w h ich is "a set o f v alu es an d b eliefs [that] are learn ed d u rin g early so - cializatio n an d are b ased u p o n rig id g en d er ro le stereo - ty p es an d b eliefs ab o u t m en an d m ascu lin ity " (O 'N eil, 1981 b , p . 2 0 5 ). M ales are so cialized to v iew th e v alu es an d b eliefs o f th is sy stem as o p tim al, an d w h en th ey ad o p t it as th eir m ascu lin e v alu e sy stem , th ey d ev elo p a fear o f fem in in ity . G o o d et al. (1 9 9 4 ) stated th at so m e ch aracteristics o f m ascu lin e id eo lo g y are th o u g h t to b e d eleterio u s to th e p sy ch o lo g ical o r p h y sical fu n ctio n in g o f m en . F o r ex am p le, m en w h o h av e a stro n g d esire to co m p ete an d ach iev e at th eir w o rk m ay ex p erien ce p sy ch o lo g - ical strain fro m in flex ib le an d rig id attitu d es to w ard Jo se M. Fragoso and Susan Kashubeck, Department o f Psychology, Texas Tech University. Jo se M. Fragoso is now at the Department o f Psychology, Stephen F. Austin University. This article is part o fa master's thesis conducted by Jose M. Fragoso under the direction o f Susan Kashubeck. A n earlier version o fthe article was presented at the 104th Annual Con- vention o fthe American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Susan Kashubeck, Department o f Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-205 I. Elec- tronic mail may be sent to Susan.Kashubeck@ttu.edu. th eir p eers an d p h y sical stress fro m o v erw o rk (O 'N eil, H elm s, G ab le, D av id , & W rig h tsm an , 1986 ). N eg a- tiv e co n seq u en ces asso ciated w ith en d o rsem en t o f th e m ale g en d er ro le h av e b een v ario u sly term ed sex ro le strain (P leck , 1976, 19 78 ), g en d er ro le co n flict o r g en - d er ro le strain (O 'N eil, 1 9 8 1 a, 19 81 b, 1982, 199 0), an d m ascu lin e g en d er ro le stress (E isler & S k id m o re, 1 9 8 7 ; E isler, S k id m o re, & W ard , 19 88). B ecau se th e trad itio n al m ale g en d er ro le so cializatio n in th e U n ited S tates p laces u n realistic ex p ectatio n s o n m en , th e re- su lt m ay b e d ifficu lty ex p ressin g em o tio n s; co n flicts asso ciated w ith b alan cin g w o rk an d h o m e d em an d s; issu es related to su ccess, p o w er, an d co m p etitio n ; an in ab ility to ex p ress affectio n to w ard o th er m en ; an d h o m o p h o b ia (G o o d , R o b ertso n , F itzg erald , S tev en s, & B artels, 1 99 6). A ccu m u latin g ev id en ce su p p o rts th e v iew th at th e w ay m en are trad itio n ally so cialized to b e m ascu lin e can h av e d eleterio u s m en tal an d p h y sical h ealth co n - seq u en ces. S tu d ies h av e in d icated th at h ig h er lev els o f m ale g en d er ro le co n flict are asso ciated w ith lo w er self-esteem an d h ig h er an x iety (D av is & W alsh , 1988; S h arp e & H ep p n er, 1 991 ), h ig h er lev els o f an g er an d su b stan ce u se (B lazin a & W atk in s, 1 99 6), h ig h er lev - els o f d ep ressio n (C o u rn o y er & M ah alik , 1995; G o o d & M in tz, 1990; S h arp e & H ep p n er, 1 99 1), an d h ig h er lev s of p y ch g i ad tr (G ., 1995). H o w ev er, th e m ajo rity o f th ese d ata h av e b een g ath - e rd w i th no -H sp acW ,an d th ere is little research p ertain in g to m alad ap tiv e co n seq u en ces o f g en d er ro le ad h eren ce in m in o rity p o p u latio n s (G o o d et ai., 1994). F o r ex am p le, m ale M ex ican A m erican s h av e b een trad itio n ally so cialized to b e th e au th o rity o r d o m in an t fig u re in th e fam ily (B aru th & M an n in g , 1999; P an iag u a, 1998). M ex ican A m erican m en are "ex p ected to b e stro n g , d o m in an t, an d th ep rov if m ly " ( S u& , 1999, p. 2 9 3 ). H o w ev er, as a resu lt o f ex p erien ces w ith 87