Previous explanations of limited participation by males as family caregivers assume that socialization to dominant gender stereotypes is a universal barrier among men. Overlooked are 1) variations in the degree of internalization of gender typed attitudes that enable intense participation in a wide variety of personal care tasks and the assumption of the chief caregiver role among some men, and 2) social psychological processes used to resolve cognitive dissonance among men considering caregiver activities and/or role enactment. The present examination of these processes is responsive to calls for enhancing our understanding of the personal meaning that caregiving has for men. The introduction of Risman's view that current experience influences socialized predispositions, allows the delineation of conditions under which husbands, sons, and other male relatives who have internalized stereotypical self images of masculinity can also assume caregiver roles in the family. Drawing on interview data from a purposive sample of thirty-two men who were chief caregivers for elderly relatives, case study material is presented to illustrate several pathways by which male respondents gained access to family caregiving roles.
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