Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore possible associations between two variables of the male experience: what men report about their emotions, and what they actually experience physiologically. Men from traditionally male occupations (N = 69) were presented with three emotion-inducing stressors (i.e., a video, a math test, and a cold pressor). Their responses to the stressors were evaluated using physiological, verbal, and structured measures. They were also given a measure of gender-role stress. Results indicated that all the men experienced physiological arousal from the emotion-inducing stimuli, and that the level of arousal was not associated with the degree of gender-role stress. Also, men who reported the highest levels of gender-role stress (often regarded as more traditionally masculine) were more expressive of emotions when asked to use a structured exercise than when asked to talk about their responses. Conversely, men who reported less gender-role stress were more emotionally expressive when they talked about their responses than when they used a structured exercise.
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