Skip to main content
Log in

Masculinity and suicidal thinking

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 15 September 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose

Males feature prominently in suicide statistics, but relatively little work has been done to date to explore whether endorsement of dominant masculinity norms heightens the risk of or is protective against suicidal thinking. This paper aimed to further knowledge in this area.

Methods

We used baseline data from 13,884 men (aged 18–55) in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men) cohort. These men filled in self-complete questionnaires in 2013/14 which covered a range of topics, including conformity to dominant masculinity norms and suicidal thinking. We conducted logistic regression analyses to estimate the strength of association between these two variables.

Results

After controlling for other key predictors of suicidal thinking, one characteristic of dominant masculinity—self-reliance—stood out as a risk factor for suicidal thinking (AOR 1.34; 95% CI 1.26–1.43).

Conclusions

It suggests that one particular element of dominant masculinity—being self-reliant—may place men at increased risk of suicidal thinking. This finding resonates with current theories of how suicidal thinking develops and leads to action. It also has implications for the full gamut of suicide prevention approaches that target males in clinical settings and in the general population, and for our broader society. Further work is needed, however, to confirm the direction of the relationship between self-reliance and suicidality, and to unpack the means through which self-reliance may exert an influence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 15 September 2017

    In the original publication there was an error in the calculation of scores for a number of the CMNI subscales and consequently the overall scale score. Recalculating the scores did not alter the substantive finding, and largely resulted in only small adjustments to estimates. Tables 1 and 2 are revised to show the corrected values, and revisions to the text reflecting these changes are noted.

Notes

  1. This breakdown reflects a deliberate oversampling of males in regional areas in Ten to Men.

References

  1. World Health Organization (2014) preventing suicide: a global imperative. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  2. Houle J, Mishara B, Chagnon F (2008) An empirical test of a mediation model of the impact of the traditional male gender role on suicidal behavior in men. J Affect Disord 107:37–43

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Moller-Leimkuehler A (2002) Barriers to help-seeking by men: a review of sociocultural and clinical literature with particular reference to depression. J Affect Disord 71:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hawton K (1998) Why has suicide increased in young males? Crisis 19:119–124

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kendler K, Thornton L, Prescott C (2001) Gender differences in the rates of exposure to stressful life events and sensitivity to their depressogenic effects. Am J Psychiatry 158(4):587–593

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Tomova L, von Dawans B, Heinrichs M, Silani G, Lamm C (2014) Is stress affecting our ability to tune into others? Evidence for gender differences in the effects of stress on self-other distinction. Psychoneuroendocrinology 43:95–104

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Cleary A (2012) Suicidal action, emotional expression, and the performance of masculinities. Soc Sci Med 74:498–505

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Griffith D (2015) “I am a man”: manhood, minority men’s health and health equity. Ethn Dis 25(3):287–293

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Mahalik J, Walker G, Levi-Minzi M (2007) Masculinity and health behaviors in Australian men. Psychol Men Masculin 8(4):240–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Niehaus I (2012) Gendered endings: narratives of male and female suicides in the South African Lowveld. Cult Med Psychiatry 36:327–347

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Oliffe J, Ogrodniczuk J, Bottorff J, Johnson J, Hoyak K (2012) “You feel like you can’t live anymore”: suicide from the perspectives of Canadian men who experience depression. Soc Sci Med 74:506–514

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Alston M (2012) Rural male suicide in Australia. Soc Sci Med 74:515–522

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Fogarty A, Proudfoot J, Whittle E, Player M, Christensen H, Hadzi-Pavlovic D, Wilhelm K (2015) Men’s use of positive strategies for preventing and managing depression: a qualitative investigation. J Affect Disord 188:179–187

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Coleman D (2015) Traditional masculinity as a risk factor for suicidal ideation: cross-sectional and prospective evidence from a study of young adults. Arch Suicide Res 19(3):366–384

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Granato S, Smith P, Selwyn C (2015) Acquired capability and masculine gender norm adherence: potential pathways to higher rates of male suicide. Psychol Men Masculin 16(3):246–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Easton S, Renner L, O’Leary P (2013) Suicide attempts among men with histories of child sexual abuse: examining abuse severity, mental health, and masculine norms. Child Abuse Negl 37:380–387

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Mansdotter A, Lundin A, Falkstedt D, Hemmingsson T (2009) The association between masculinity rank and mortality patterns: a prospective study based on the Swedish 1969 conscript cohort. J Epidemiol Community Health 63:408–413

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Pirkis J, Currier D, Carlin J, Degenhardt L, Dharmage S, Giles-Corti B, Gordon I, Gurrin L, Hocking J, Kavanagh A, Keogh L, Koelmeyer R, LaMontagne A, Patton G, Sanci L, Spittal M, Schlichthorst M, Studdert D, Williams J, English D (2016) Cohort profile: Ten to Men (The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health). Int J Epidemiol. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw055

  19. Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW (2001) The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 16:606–613

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Mahalik J, Locke B, Ludlow L, Diemer M, Scott R, Gottfried M, Freitas G (2003) Development of the conformity to masculine norms inventory. Psychol Men Masculin 4(1):3–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Thompson E, Bennett K (2015) Measurement of masculinity ideologies: a (critical) review. Psychol Men Masculin 16(2):115–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Iwamoto D, Gordon D, Oliveros A, Perez-Cabello A, Brabham T, Lanza S, Dyson W (2012) The role of masculine norms and informal support on mental health in incarcerated men. Psychol Men Masculin 13(3):283–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Owen J (2010) Assessing the factor structures of the 55- and 22-item versions of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory. Am J Men’s Health 5:118–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) Census of population and housing: socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA), Australia, 2011 (Cat. No. 2033.0.55.001). Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

  25. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 5—Remoteness Structure. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

  26. Tarlov A, Ware J, Greenfield S, Nelson E, Perrin E, Zubkoff M (1989) The medical outcomes study: an application of methods for monitoring the results of Medical Care. J Am Med Assoc 262:925–930

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Holmes T, Rahe R (1967) The social readjustment rating scale. J Psychosom Res 11(2):213–218

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Pachana N, Brilleman S, Dobson A (2011) Reporting of life events over time: methodological issues in a longitudinal sample of women. Psychol Assess 23(1):277–281

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Currier D, Spittal MJ, Patton G, Pirkis J (2016) Life stress and thoughts of death: the relationship between life events and suicidal ideation in Australian men—cross-sectional analysis of Ten to Men baseline data. BMC Public Health 16(Suppl 3):1031. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3702-9

  30. Babor T, Higgins-Biddle J, Saunders J, Monteiro M (2001) The alcohol use disorders identification test: guidelines for use in primary care, 2nd edn. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  31. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) The Australian Health Survey. Australian Bureau of Statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/australianhealthsurvey. Accessed 18 Aug 2015

  32. StataCorp (2013) Stata: Release 13.1. StataCorp LP, College Station TX

  33. Last J (2001) A dictionary of epidemiology. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  34. Mahalik J, Talmadge W, Locke B, Scott R (2005) Using the conformity to masculine norms inventory to work with men in a clinical setting. J Clin Psychol 61(6):661–674

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Labouliere C, Kleinman M, Gould M (2015) When self-reliance is not safe: associations between reduced help-seeking and subsequent mental health symptoms in suicidal adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health 12:3741–3755

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Hom MA, Stanley IH, Joiner TE Jr (2015) Evaluating factors and interventions that influence help-seeking and mental health service utilization among suicidal individuals: a review of the literature. Clin Psychol Rev 40:28–39. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2015.05.006

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Gulliver A, Griffiths KM, Christensen H (2010) Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry 10:113. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-10-113

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. O’Connor R (2011) The integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour. Crisis 32:295–298

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Van Orden K, Witte T, Curkrowicz K, Braithwaite S, Selby E, Joiner T (2010) The interpersonal theory of suicide. Psychol Rev 117:575–600

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Uebelacker LA, German NM, Gaudiano BA, Miller IW (2011) Patient health questionnaire depression scale as a suicide screening instrument in depressed primary care patients: a cross-sectional study Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 13(1). doi:10.4088/PCC.10m01027

  41. Sveticic J, De Leo D (2012) The hypothesis of a continuum in suicidality: a discussion on its validity and practical implications. Mental Illness 4(2):e15

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men). We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the boys and men who provided the survey data. Ten to Men is managed by the University of Melbourne. Ten to Men data are the intellectual property of the Commonwealth.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dianne Currier.

Ethics declarations

Ethical standards

Ten to Men was approved by the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee and, therefore, been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All participants gave written informed consent.

Conflict of interest

All authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1443-4.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pirkis, J., Spittal, M.J., Keogh, L. et al. Masculinity and suicidal thinking. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 52, 319–327 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1324-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1324-2

Keywords

Navigation