Project Summary

We developed the Relationships Fostering Healthy Masculinities Scale, which assesses boys’ and men’s experience in relationships that reject hegemonic masculinity and promote healthy masculinities. In the study, we report confirmatory factor analyses for its theoretically derived 6-factor structure, as well as evidence for its criterion validity and measure invariance. The construct emerges from relational-cultural theory, framing socialization toward the culturally-dominant definition in the U.S. of hegemonic masculinity and growth toward healthy ways of being men, as occurring through interpersonal experiences. We surveyed 300 male-identifying individuals across age, race, and sexual orientation in the U.S.

Approach

Interventions in war affected groups may target a singular condition, such as depression, few cost effective trans diagnostic interventions exist to address multi symptomatic presentations that can cause major impairments in school and community functioning. This project is a stabilization and skills focused intervention that integrates elements from cognitive-behavioral therapy and group interpersonal therapy to address co-occurring mental health symptoms that these youth experience. 

Key Findings

• Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a six-factor, second-order model for the scale consisting of 24 items, showing a strong fit to the data. Support for criterion validity was established in relation to measures of individual well-being (e.g., self-compassion, authenticity, mental health), relationship quality (e.g., relational health, loneliness), social justice worldview (e.g., critical consciousness, social dominance orientation), and lower adherence to masculine norms (e.g., emotional control, self-reliance, violence, misogyny). Assessment for the scale’s measurement invariance also demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance for men of color and White men.
  
  
• Results support our conceptualization of a general construct for RFHM comprised of six factors reflecting experiences in relationships that reject shame, promote vulnerability, reject hyper-independence, promote connection, reject violence, and promote compassion. Targeting the culturally-dominant notion of hegemonic masculinity may serve to address the barriers that hegemonic socialization poses to advancing health, prevention, and social change efforts.