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.

Threats to masculinity can trigger compensatory mechanisms such as risk-taking, aggression, or disparagement of gender atypical others. In Study 1 (N = 76) we tested whether threat to men’s agentic self (information about the level of testosterone) influences men’s (a) attitudes toward parental duties, and (b) their support for gender equality. Polish men (but not women) whose gender identity was threatened manifested more traditional attitudes toward parental duties, were more willing to endorse stereotypical gender roles, and showed less support for gender equality and less willingness to support collective egalitarian actions. In Study 2 (N = 313) we found that agency is related to gender system justification in men, suggesting a potential mediator of the effects related to compensatory mechanisms evoked by a gender identity threat among men. This was confirmed in Study 3 (N = 131), where participants read a short scientific text either (a) emphasizing the existence of stereotypical gender differences in terms of agency and communality, or (b) claiming that there are no such differences. Results indicated that in the “no differences” condition, men (but not women) showed lower acceptance of gender inequality and a greater willingness to engage in domestic activities. This effect was mediated by participants’ self-perceived agency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

The home food environment is critically important for the development of children’s health-related practices. By managing dietary restrictions, providing nutritional knowledge and demonstrating eating behaviours, parents contribute to children’s food preferences and eating patterns. The present study examined nutritional knowledge, eating habits and appetite traits among 387 Polish five-year-old healthy and overfat boys and girls in the context of parental feeding styles and body-fat status. We observed that girls presented healthier eating habits than boys; however, overfat boys had better nutritional knowledge. Children’s body-fat percentage (%BF) was found to be linked with eating behaviours such as low satiety responsiveness and increased food responsiveness in girls as well as low emotional undereating and increased emotional overeating in boys. Our results revealed that overfat mothers, who were more prone to use the encouragement feeding style, rarely had daughters with increased %BF. Parents of overfat girls, however, were less likely to apply encouragement and instrumental feeding styles. Contrary to popular belief and previous studies, overfat women do not necessarily transmit unhealthy eating patterns to their children. Parents’ greater emphasis on managing the weight and eating habits of daughters (rather than sons) probably results from their awareness of standards of female physical attractiveness.