MANdatory - why men need (and are needed for) gender equality progress

While much progress has been made towards gender equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, education and society, recent years have also revealed continuing challenges that slow or halt this progress. To date, the majority of gender equality action has tended to approach gender equality from one side: being focused on the need to remove barriers for girls and women. We argue that this is only half the battle, and that a focus on men is MANdatory, highlighting three key areas: First, we review men's privileged status as being potentially threatened by progress in gender equality, and the effects of these threats for how men engage in gender-equality progress. Second, we highlight how men themselves are victims of restrictive gender roles, and the consequences of this for men's physical and mental health, and for their engagement at work and at home. Third, we review the role of men as allies in the fight for gender equality, and on the factors that impede and may aid in increasing men's involvement. We end with recommendations for work organizations, educational institutions and society at large to reach and involve men as positive agents of social change.

Factors That Affect Drivers' Perception of Closing and an Immediate Hazard

OBJECTIVE

To measure the looming threshold for when drivers perceive closing and an immediate hazard and determine what factors affect these thresholds.

BACKGROUND

Rear-end collisions are a common type of crash. One key issue is determining when drivers first perceive they need to react. The looming threshold for closing and an immediate hazard are critical perceptual thresholds that reflect when drivers perceive they need to react.

METHOD

Two driving simulator experiments examined whether engaging in a cell phone conversation and whether the complexity of the roadway environment affect these thresholds for the perception of closing and immediate hazard. Half of the participants engaged in a cognitive task, the last letter task, to emulate a cell phone conversation, and all participants experienced both simple and complex roadway environments.

RESULTS

Drivers perceived an immediate hazard later when engaged in a cell phone conversation than when not engaged in a conversation but only when the driving task was relatively less demanding (e.g., simple roadway, slow closing velocity). Compared to simple scenes, drivers perceived closing and an immediate hazard later for complex scenes but only when closing velocity was 30 mph (48.28 km/h) or greater.

CONCLUSION

Cell phone conversation can affect when drivers perceive an immediate hazard when the roadway is less demanding. Roadway complexity can affect when drivers perceive closing and an immediate hazard when closing velocity is high.

APPLICATION

Results can aid accident analysis cases and the design of driving automation systems by suggesting when a typical driver would respond.

The Influence of Personality and Demographic Characteristics on Aggressive Driving Behaviors in Eastern Chinese Drivers

Purpose

Road safety research is important due to the large number of road traffic fatalities globally. This study investigated the influences of age, driving experience and other covariates on aggressive driving behavior.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Yixing City, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China. Regression analysis was applied to explore the influences of age and driving experience and their interactions with other covariates on aggressive driving behavior. Two analyses methodologies were used to assess the simple effect of the interactions. Firstly, the Jamovi automatic analysis classification program was used to calculate the simple slope test. Second, the SPSS macro program was also used to calculate the simple slope test also.

Results

A total of 570 drivers (247 males, 282 females) participated in the survey. A negative correlation was found between age and aggressive driving behaviors, and a positive correlation was found between neuroticism and aggressive driving behaviors in the multiple regression analysis. Significant associations were also found between age, driving experience, and depression, as well as age, driving experience, and neuroticism. Simple slope tests showed that depressive symptoms could increase aggressive behaviors in the elderly and experienced drivers. When experiencing neuroticism, individuals with higher driving experience were more aggressive in driving than shorter experienced drivers.

Conclusion

Age and neuroticism influenced aggressive driving behaviors. Veteran drivers could be aggressive drivers when experiencing depressive symptoms or neuroticism. Mobile intervention could be sent to the potentially risky drivers, which would be safe and broadly feasible to prevent aggressive driving behavior in the background of COVID-19.

Gender-Specific Differences in Depressive Behavior Among Forensic Psychiatric Patients

Background

Women are almost twice as likely to develop depression than men, but men commit suicide more often. One explanation for this paradox is that current depression inventories do not fully capture typical male symptoms of depression. Several studies showed that most depression symptoms in men are masked by externalizing behaviors, such as aggressiveness, addiction, and risky behavior. Here, we explored the differences in depression symptoms between men and women in a forensic psychiatric sample.

Methods

We screened 182 forensic psychiatric patients and selected a matched sample (21 women and 21 men). External symptoms of depression were assessed with the Gender-Sensitive Depression Screening (GSDS) and internal symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory Revision.

Results

Although externalizing behaviors were similar in both groups, we found a significant relationship between external and internal depression symptoms only in men. In addition, male forensic patients with a history of suicide had higher scores in the GSDS, whereas female patients with a history of suicide had higher scores in the Beck Depression Inventory Revision.

Discussion

The finding that the GSDS detected depression symptoms in men indicates that this instrument might be useful for developing assessments to prevent suicide in forensic practice.

Precarious Manhood and Its Effects on Aggression: The Role of Cultural Script

The present study tests the precariousness of manhood and the impact of precarious manhood on aggression. In total, 50 undergraduates (25 girls, 25 boys) participated in this experiment. It was found that the male participants used more verbs in the "A man should__" sentence string than in the "One woman should__" sentence string, and similar language patterns were found even after controlling for gender stereotypes. Individuals were found to more often attribute the individual behavior caused by cultural scripts to external situational factors; that is, if individuals agreed that another male's aggression was due to threatened manhood, this behavior was seen to be because of the male cultural script and was due to external circumstances. To test this view, a total of 56 college students participated in this experiment. In total, 25 college students (11 males, 14 females) took part in the attribution evaluation of two male fighters, and 31 college students (15 males, 16 females) participated in the attribution evaluation of two female fighters. It was found that the male participants believed that other male physical aggression that threatened their manhood was induced by situational factors rather than the internal characteristics of the attacker. The differences between the female participants were not significant, indicating that it was part of the male cultural script for men (rather than women) to defend or restore precarious manhood through aggression.

Masculinity threats influence evaluation of hypermasculine advertisements

The precarious manhood paradigm posits that many men view their gender as a social status that must be earned and maintained, and can be lost. The present study applied the precarious manhood paradigm to a hypermasculine advertisement. A sample of 208 men was collected online. Using a false feedback paradigm, men's masculinity was either threatened, or not threatened. The men then viewed one of two commercials. One commercial was a neutral, control advertisement, and one was a hypermasculine advertisement. We also measured participants' endorsement of masculine norms. Results of a moderated moderation analysis indicated that men in the threat condition were more likely to view the hypermasculine advertisement as being masculinity-enhancing, if they also endorsed the masculine norms of Winning, Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and Power over Women. Results for future research applying precarious manhood to advertising, and implications for clinical work with men, are discussed.