Masculinity and Silence in the Academic Struggles of American Male College Students

Abstract

Women are outperforming men on many academic achievement metrics in tertiary education. Contributing factors may include the hegemonic masculine expectations for boys and men to be successful, strong, and unemotional. The aim of this qualitative study was to therefore investigate how American emerging adult men may perpetuate expectations of stoicism and silence when discussing their academic struggles. Fifteen American male college students between the ages of 19 and 26 (M = 21.40, SD = 2.10) who self-identified as struggling academically were interviewed about their struggles. A thematic analysis revealed that they engaged in three overarching forms of male silence when discussing their struggles: personal, private, and public. The conversational consequences of these forms of silence are explained that resulted in these students having difficulty identifying their own emotions, not wanting to tell others about their academic struggles, and assuming that others did not want to hear about it.

Keywords

gender emotions academic achievement college qualitative methods

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