Masculinity and health behaviors in Australian Men

Approaching men s health behaviors from a gender socialization framework, the authors hypothesized that Australian men s health behaviors would significantly relate to their conformity to traditional masculine norms. A total of 253 Australian men recruited through university and community settings completed the Health Behavior Inventory (HBI) and the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI). Masculinity scores related to Australian men reporting more health risk behaviors and fewer health promotion behaviors. Follow-up analyses also indicated that Masculinity scores related to specific HBI items and that CMNI subscales significantly predicted the HBI Total scores. The authors discuss the relationship between traditional masculine socialization and harmful health behaviors, potential interventions, limitations to the study, and future research.