Finger length ratio (2D:4D) correlates with physical aggression in men but not in women

Finger length ratio (2D:4D) is a sexually dimorphic trait. Men have relatively shorter second digits (index fingers) than fourth digits (ring fingers). Smaller, more masculine, digit ratios are thought to be associated with either higher prenatal testosterone levels or greater sensitivity to androgens, or both. Men with more masculine finger ratios are perceived as being more masculine and dominant by female observers, and tend to perform better in a number of physical sports. We hypothesized that digit ratio would correlate with propensity to engage in aggressive behavior. We examined the relationship between trait aggression, assayed using a questionnaire, and finger length ratio in both men and women. Men with lower, more masculine, finger length ratios had higher trait physical aggression scores (r(partial) = -0.21, N = 134, P = 0.028). We found no correlation between finger length ratio and any form of aggression in females. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that testosterone has an organizational effect on adult physical aggression in men.     

An empirical test of a mediation model of the impact of the traditional male gender role on suicidal behavior in men

BACKGROUND: Men die by suicide three to four times more often than women in Western countries. The adverse impact of the traditional male gender role as well as men's reluctance to seek help are possible explanations of this gender gap, but these hypotheses have not been well documented empirically. METHODS: This study compares two groups of men who experienced comparable severely stressful life events during the preceding 12 months: 40 men admitted to hospital emergency following suicide attempts, and 40 men with no history of suicide attempts. Structured interviews were conducted to measure adherence to the traditional male gender role, help seeking behaviour, social support, suicide acceptability and mental health. RESULTS: ANOVAS indicated that attempters are more likely to adhere to the traditional masculine gender role and regression analysis revealed that this relationship persists even when the presence of mental disorders is statistically controlled. Sequential regression analysis support the mediation model and show that the effects of the traditional male gender role on suicidal behavior are mediated through protective and risk factors for suicide, namely mental state, help seeking and social support. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional male gender role appears to increase the risk of suicidal behavior in men by undermining their mental state and by inhibiting the protective factors of help seeking and social support. This study underscores the importance of encouraging men to seek help.     

Male infertility in Zimbabwe

OBJECTIVES: There are very few studies on male infertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan countries tend not to research male infertility because of economic reasons and, possibly, the psychological denial of the problem. METHODS: The participants in the present study were 311 men with infertility problems who had been referred to the Andrology Clinic of the University of Zimbabwe. They were investigated by means of a clinical interview, a clinical examination, semen analysis and various endocrine tests. RESULTS: It was found that 78% of the respondents had ever had a sexually transmitted disease. Most of the respondents reported that their infertility caused them stress and reported signs of mild depression. Most men mentioned also to seek treatment based on traditional methods. Men blamed that their wife was the reason of their childlessness. CONCLUSION: This study shows the importance of understanding both the cultural and the medical aspects of male infertility. Male infertility is a significant medical and psychological problem in Zimbabwe. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: Men should promptly be diagnosed and treated for STIs. Health education and teaching people about STDs and HIV in general about this are essential to the process of preventing male infertility.     

Distress level in men undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection versus in-vitro fertilization

The purpose of this study was to compare the psychological reactions of men undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) (n=18) or in- vitro fertilization (IVF) (n=22). Men monitored their psychological reactions daily for one complete treatment cycle from the first day of down-regulation until the outcome of treatment was known (approximately 52 days). The results showed that ICSI patients reported marginally more distress on the days prior to retrieval than the IVF patients. Other than this difference the pattern of results indicated that the psychological reactions of men undergoing ICSI or IVF were similar and that there was no need to manage these patients differently during treatment. However, ICSI patients may benefit from some reassuring comments on the days prior to retrieval when they showed more anticipatory anxiety.      

'My Wife Ordered Me to Come!': A Discursive Analysis of Doctors' and Nurses' Accounts of Men's Use of General Practitioners

This study used a discursive approach to analysing doctors' and nurses' accounts of men's health in the context of general practice. The analysis worked intensively with interview material from a small sample of general practitioners and their nursing colleagues. We examine the contradictory discursive framework through which this sample made sense of their male patients. The 'interpretative repertoires' through which doctors and nurses constructed their representations of male patients and the 'subject positions' these afforded men are outlined in detail. We describe how hegemonic masculinity is both critiqued for its detrimental consequences for health and paradoxically also indulged and protected. These constructions reflect a series of ideological dilemmas for men and health professionals between the maintenance of hegemonic masculine identities and negotiating adequate health care. Men who step outside 'typical' gender constructions tended to be marked as deviant or rendered invisible as a consequence.     

Gender and alcohol use: the roles of social support, chronic illness, and psychological well-being

Men and women differ in their use of alcohol, in their rates of chronic illnesses and psychological symptoms, and in the social support they receive. In this paper, we assess how the latter three factors are associated with alcohol use, and how these associations differ by gender. Respondents were 3,074 male and 3,947 female randomly selected Health Maintenance Organization members who responded to a mail survey in 1990. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that social support is associated with alcohol consumption in similar ways for both genders, yet the associations between some demographic, physical health/functioning, and psychological well-being measures are different for men and women. Men with fewer role limits due to physical health drank more, while women with better psychological well-being drank less. Poor psychological well-being may be a modifiable risk factor for increased alcohol use among women; practitioners should be alert for greater consumption among men with few functional limitations and good health.     

Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China.

Men and women at Northwest University (n = 631), Xi'an, China, were asked to rate the attractiveness of male or female figures manipulated to vary somatotype, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), secondary sexual traits, and other features. In study 1, women rated the average masculine somatotype as most attractive, followed by the mesomorphic (muscular), ectomorphic (slim), and endomorphic (heavily built) somatotypes, in descending order of preference. In study 2, the amount and distribution of masculine trunk (chest and abdominal) hair were altered progressively in a series of front-posed figures. Women rated figures with no or little trunk hair as most attractive. Study 3 assessed the attractiveness of front-posed male figures which varied only in length of their nonerect penis. Numerical ratings for this trait were low, but moderate lengthening of the penis (22% or 33% above average) resulted in a significant increase in scores for attractiveness. In study 4, Chinese men rated the attractiveness of back-posed female images varying in waist-to-hip ratio (WHR from 0.5-1.0). The 0.6 WHR figure was most preferred, followed by 0.7, while figures with higher ratios (0.9 or 1.0) were significantly less attractive. Study 5 rated the attractiveness of female skin color: men expressed a marked preference for images which were lighter in color, as compared to images of average or darker skin colors. These results, the first of their kind reported for a Chinese population, support the view that sexual selection has influenced the evolution of human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women.     

Educational Status and Risk of HIV in Young Gay Men

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with higher rates of HIV infection as well as higher rates of unsafe sex. The behavioral determinants that might mediate the effect of SES on risky sex have not been studied thus far. We investigated the involvement of social cognitions in the link between educational status and unprotected anal sex in 292 participants of the Amsterdam Young Gay Men Study. We found that poorly educated men had poorer knowledge about HIV and preventive behavior, perceived social norms to be less favorable towards condom usage with casual partners, and had lower perceived control over that behavior than the better educated men. Poorly educated men were also more likely to have engaged in unprotected anal sex with casual partners in the six-month period that followed the assessment of the social cognitions. However, the education-related behavioral difference could not be explained by social cognitions. We concluded that cognitive models of behavior might not explain all of the risk behavior in gay men with lower SES. These men's risk-taking behavior might result from specific psychological characteristics of men with lower SES that interfere with traditional cognition-behavior correlations as posited in prevailing models of behavior.     

'You are a man because you have children': experiences, reproductive health knowledge and treatment-seeking behaviour among men suffering from couple infertility in South Africa

BACKGROUND: In Africa, infertility traditionally has been viewed as a female problem. This study explores reproductive health knowledge, health-seeking behaviour and experiences related to involuntary childlessness in men suffering from couple infertility. METHODS: Twenty-seven men from a diverse cultural urban community in South Africa participated in in-depth interviews at the time of their first visit to an infertility clinic in a tertiary referral centre. RESULTS: Men had little knowledge about the physiology of human fertility, causes of infertility and modern treatment options. Awareness of male factor infertility was, however, high. Most men appeared involved in the health-seeking process. Men described their emotional reactions to childlessness and the impact of infertility on marital stability, and many reported that infertile men suffered from stigmatization, verbal abuse and loss of social status. CONCLUSIONS: These findings improve our understanding of the reproductive health needs of men suffering from couple infertility in Africa. This understanding is essential for the effective integration of male partners into modern infertility management. The need for appropriate counselling of men and, most particularly, for education of the community is recognized.     

Masculine norms about emotionality and social constraints in young and older adult men with cancer

Beliefs that men should restrict their display of emotions, or restrictive emotionality, might contribute to adjustment to cancer and this might be sensitive to social receptivity to disclosure. The present research examined relationships of restrictive emotionality, social constraints, and psychological distress in young adults with testicular cancer (N = 171; Study 1) and older men with prostate cancer (N = 66; Study 2). Study 1: positive associations were observed for social constraints and restrictive emotionality with depressive symptoms. Social constraints moderated the relationship, such that high restrictive emotionality was associated with higher depressive symptoms in those with high constraints. Study 2: only social constraints (and not restrictive emotionality) was positively associated with depressive symptoms and cancer-related intrusive thoughts. The social constraints × restrictive emotionality interaction approached significance with depressive symptoms, such with high social constraints low restrictive emotionality was associated with higher depressive symptoms compared to those with less constraints. No significant associations were found for intrusive thoughts in either study. Findings demonstrate unique relationships with psychological distress across the lifespan of men with cancer given perception of constraints and adherence to masculine norms about emotionality.     

Gender differences in cardiovascular and electrodermal responses to public speaking task: the role of anxiety and mood states.

Gender moderates psychophysiological responses to stress. In addition to the hormonal background, different psychological states related to social stressors, such as anxiety and mood, could affect this response. The purpose of this study was to examine the existence of gender differences in the cardiovascular and electrodermal responses to a speech task and their relationship with anxiety and the mood variations experienced. For this, non-specific skin conductance responses (NSRs), heart rate (HR), and finger pulse volume (FPV) were measured at rest, and during preparation, task and recovery periods of an academic career speech in undergraduate men (n=15) and women (n=23), with assessment of changes in the state version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and in the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaires. Men and women did not differ in trait anxiety, hostility/aggressiveness, or in the appraisal of the task, which were evaluated with the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), the Buss and Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), and a self-report elaborated by ourselves, respectively. Women had higher FPV in all periods except during the task, and were more reactive to the stressor in state anxiety, and in the amplitude of NSRs. No gender differences for HR and for the frequency of NSRs were found. Anxiety and mood states were differently related to cardiovascular and electrodermal measurements in men and women. Further studies should consider the hormonal variations in addition to the psychological dimensions, in order to offer a more integrative perspective of the complex responses to stress.     

Using the conformity to masculine norms inventory to work with men in a clinical setting

Given that gender roles are increasingly viewed as salient in clinical work with men, this article describes a process of exploring masculine gender roles with male clients in therapy by using the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI). Specifically, this article (a) discusses how men's degree of conformity to masculine norms may be connected to a variety of benefits and costs, (b) describes the CMNI as a tool that can be used to explore men's degree of conformity to masculine norms, (c) describes a process by which to use the CMNI to explore the relevance of men's masculine selves to their presenting concerns, and (d) illustrates the process with a case example. As such, the paper is intended to provide a systematic procedure for clinicians working with men who want to explore the benefits and costs that both conformity, and nonconformity, to specific masculinity norms brings for male clients.     

Assessment of needs of men for decision support on male sterilization

OBJECTIVE: To assess the needs of men for decision support on male sterilization. METHODS: Forty-two men facing a decision about undergoing a vasectomy or not and 11 physicians who perform vasectomy were interviewed to assess the sources of difficulty in this decision-making process. On the day of their vasectomy, 209 men completed the decisional conflict scale (DCS) and a knowledge test. RESULTS: Sources of difficulty about the decision to have a vasectomy or not included: lack of information about risks and benefits, clarification of personal values concerning parenthood after the vasectomy, and undue pressure from partner. On the day of their vasectomy, only 1.9% (95% confidence interval 0.5-4.8%) of men had unresolved decisional conflict. However, most men scored poorly on their knowledge test mean score (58.2+/-13.5%). CONCLUSION: Men facing the decision about having a vasectomy or not would benefit from a decision support intervention that would address conflicting information and clarification of values. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Health professionals should provide decision support to men facing the decision about having a vasectomy or not. A decision aid on male sterilization would be useful in this respect.     

Preventive Care in the Context of Men's Health

This study assessed the effectiveness of a health intervention, in diabetes education and risk assessment, to motivate men to take positive action, within the framework of the Health Belief Model. The worksite-based intervention targeted 525 men aged between 40 and 65 years from 27 organizations in the south-west of Western Australia in 1999/2000. Men identified as high risk were referred to their general practitioner. The adopted strategy had a number of strengths, namely that the health risk assessment was topic-specific, personalized, conducted on the worksite and combined with an educational component and a medical follow-up. The focus groups component of the study gave further understanding as to why the adopted strategy had been appropriate for men's needs.     

Physical fitness as a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in asymptomatic North American men. The Lipid Research Clinics Mortality Follow-up Study

Limited data are available on the relation between physical fitness and mortality from cardiovascular disease. We examined this question in a study of 4276 men, 30 to 69 years of age, whom we followed for an average of 8.5 years. Examinations at base line included assessment of conventional coronary risk factors and treadmill exercise testing. The heart rate during submaximal exercise (stage 2 of the exercise test) and the duration of exercise were used as measures of physical fitness. Men with incomplete data (n = 308) or who were using cardiovascular drugs (n = 213) were excluded from the analysis. Men who had clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease at base line (n = 649) were analyzed separately. Forty-five deaths from cardiovascular causes occurred among the remaining 3106 men. A lower level of physical fitness was associated with a higher risk of death from cardiovascular and coronary heart disease, after adjustment for age and cardiovascular risk factors. The relative risk of death from cardiovascular causes was 2.7 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.4 to 5.1; P = 0.003) for healthy men with an increment of 35 beats per minute in the heart rate during stage 2, and 3.0 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 5.5; P = 0.0004) for those with a decrement of 4.4 minutes in the exercise time spent on the treadmill. The corresponding values for death from coronary heart disease were 3.2 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.5 to 6.7; P = 0.003) and 2.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.3 to 6.1; P = 0.007), respectively. We conclude that a lower level of physical fitness is associated with a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease in clinically healthy men, independent of conventional coronary risk factors.     

Information and patient participation in screening for prostate cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine if providing men with information about screening for prostate cancer would enable them to assume a more active role in decision making with their family physician, and lower levels of anxiety and decisional conflict. Men were recruited from one family medical clinic in Winnipeg, Manitoba. One hundred men scheduled for a periodic health examination (PHE) were randomly assigned to receive verbal and written information either prior to the PHE, or following the second interview. Men completed measures of preferred decisional role and anxiety prior to the PHE; and assumed decisional role, decisional conflict, and anxiety post PHE. Results demonstrated that men who received the information prior to the PHE assumed a significantly more active role in making a screening decision, and had lower levels of decisional conflict post PHE. The two groups did not differ with regard to levels of state anxiety. Providing men with information enables them to make informed screening decisions with their family physicians.     

The psychological impact of cardiovascular screening and intervention in primary care: a problem of false reassurance? British Family Heart Study Group.

BACKGROUND: There have been many reports of the adverse psychological effects of screening. Here we discuss the results of a randomized controlled study--one of the first to address this issue. AIM: To determine the extent to which participation in a population-based intervention programme that aims to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases raises concerns about health, or undermines a belief in the ability to reduce that risk. METHOD: A randomized controlled trial involving 13 general practices in England, Wales and Scotland was conducted. Two thousand, nine hundred and eighty-four middle-aged men and women undergoing cardiovascular risk-screening and intervention, and a randomized comparison group of 3,576 men and women from the same practices, who were not offered the intervention, were compared on three outcomes: perception of current health, perceived risk of suffering a heart attack, and perceived ability to reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack. RESULTS: We found no evidence to suggest that participation in this one-year, population-based intervention programme, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease raised concerns about health or risk of a heart attack; indeed, those in the intervention group were slightly more optimistic about their health. Alterations in perceptions of current health and the risk of suffering a heart attack were associated directly with true alterations in risk factors. A more noticeable effect on participants in this intervention programme was a reduction in their perceived ability to further reduce their risks of a heart attack. This was associated with a decrease in weight and with quitting smoking. CONCLUSION: Contemporary screening and intervention programmes in primary care, aimed at reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, do not necessarily lead to raised anxiety or concern about health. A more subtle effect of screening would appear to be one of reassurance in the face of continuing, albeit reduced, risk.     

Current status of doctoral-level training in psychological testing

Training directors of 82 American Psychological Association (APA)-approved doctoral programs in clinical psychology responded to a survey on the current status and recent changes in doctoral training in psychological assessment. Although testing continues to be a major focus of training, a slight decline in emphasis on assessment was noted, most notably with projective techniques. With few exceptions (e.g., NEO-PI, Personality Assessment Inventory), traditional tests were emphasized in coursework and also were considered "essential" for the practicing psychologist. Interestingly, there seems to be increased emphasis on the interview and neuropsychological testing compared to prior surveys of academic settings. Only 29% of the training directors reported that their programs have been significantly affected by managed care, suggesting that most academic programs are somewhat insulated from marketplace pressures. It is recommended that training programs balance their focus on traditional academic values with the realities of the clinical practice arena.