Citation

Wilkerson M. OSF 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Center for Open Science)

DOI

10.17605/OSF.IO/D3BHG

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Men, relative to women, die younger and more frequently from nearly every non-sex specific cause of death (Crimmins et al., 2018). However, this gender difference, the mortality gap, is larger for causes of death that involve risky behavioral components (Kruger & Nesse, 2006). Precarious Manhood Theory (Vandello & Bosson, 2013) suggests that men may engage in mortally risky and dangerous behaviors because men feel pressure to demonstrate manhood, contributing to men's, relative to women's, elevated mortality rates. This study will examine this at the country-level, looking at associations between cultural expectations for men to demonstrate manhood (i.e., Precarious Manhood Beliefs) and the mortality gap for causes of death varying across different levels of risk.

This study will examine three different categories of risk-related causes of death. Acute risky causes of death, in which the cause of death is directly caused by a risky behavior (e.g., drowning), chronic risky causes of death, in which the cause of death is indirectly caused by a behavior (e.g., lung cancer via smoking), and biologically driven causes of death in which the cause of death has a low behavioral component (e.g., congenital heart conditions).

This study will be a cross-sectional correlation design with previously collected data from 62 countries examining the association between country level precarious manhood beliefs and the mortality gap across acutely risky, chronically risky, and biologically driven causes of death. Additionally, I will test the measurement invariance for three scales measuring cultural gender beliefs, examining if the scales show consistent factor structure across countries and are thus suitable for cross-cultural research. Then I will examine if the association between precarious manhood beliefs and the mortality gap remains when controlling for country-level cultural gender beliefs, gender equality, and development.

Language: en