The team analysed the responses of 600 US men about their perceptions of male gender and how their own self-image fitted in with this and risky behaviors.
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In general, highly masculine men are more likely to engage in stereotypical male behaviors such as risk taking, substance misuse, and acts of aggression, say the researchers.
But they wanted to find out if "male discrepancy stress" - men who see themselves as not only falling short of traditional masculine gender norms but who also worry that others view them in this light as well - had any impact on these behaviors.
The team analysed the responses of 600 US men about their perceptions of male gender and how their own self-image fitted in with this and risky behaviors.
The results showed that men who considered themselves less masculine than average and who experienced "male discrepancy stress" were more likely to say they had committed violent assaults with a weapon as well as assaults resulting in injury to the victim than those who didn't feel highly masculine but who didn't worry about it.
There was no association between discrepancy stress and average daily use of alcohol or drugs.
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"This may suggest that substance use and abuse behaviors are less salient methods of demonstrating traditional masculinity in contrast to behaviors related to sex and violence, perhaps due to the potentially private nature of the habit," suggested the researchers in a paper published online in the journal Injury Prevention.
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Source-IANS