Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that
is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural
data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale
[PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies
and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data from
university samples in 62 countries across 13 world regions (N = 33,417), we demonstrate: (1)
the psychometric isomorphism of the PMB (i.e., its comparability in meaning and statistical
properties across the individual and country levels); (2) the PMB’s distinctness from, and
associations with, ambivalent sexism and ambivalence toward men; and (3) associations of
the PMB with nation-level gender equality and human development. Findings are discussed
in terms of their statistical and theoretical implications for understanding widely-held beliefs
about the precariousness of the male gender role.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Additional Information:
For full list of authors, pleas open the article or visit https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022121997997
Uncontrolled Keywords:
psychometric isomorphism; precarious manhood beliefs; ambivalent sexism; ambivalence toward men