Self-Reliance, Masculinity, and Resistance to Seeking Help...

Boman, E., & Walker, G. (2010). Predictors of men’s health care utilization. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 11 (2), 113-122 (see link to abstract, below).

Predictors of Men’s Health Care Utilization 2010

Elsewhere on this blog I have criticised the new, indeed, what is the first ever national men’s health policy in Australia, for it being so light-on when it comes to discussions about masculinity. In brief, the mug punters who put that rag together worked from the premise that masculinity equates with criticising men and criticising men was averse to the ‘salutogenic’ approach contained within that policy. Poor, poor men have suffered enough already. We need no more dung heaped upon us but praise and in spades too, if you please! That ideological constriction will make for interesting critical analysis of the puzzling funk of men who avoid seeking help, no matter how serious our presenting physical or mental health problems might be (Boman and Walker, 2010, p.113). Few gendered practices cause as much unnecessary grief, after all, as male ’self-efficacy’ (2010, p.114).

Boman and Walker (2010) have spotted the reluctance by men to seek help for their problems across continents, from Australia to Africa to North America and beyond (p.113). In fact, they report that the more men conform to masculine ideals, the more likely they are to engage in ‘risky health behaviors’ and the less likely they are to seek ‘professional help’ (2010, p.113). The $64 question then, according to Addis and Mahalik (2003), is to work out why it is that some men in certain situations seek help for their problems, while others do not (2010, p.114). One possible explanation is that masculine ideals militate against the practice of seeking help from others, since to so act places the man in a subservient position and gives over to another a problem that should be his to suffer with, if not remedy without external support (2010, p.114).

It was no big shock to learn that Boman and Walker (2010) confirmed through their research that Australian men are supremely reluctant to seek help for their physical and mental health problems (p.119). For example, the endurance of pain was constructed by many of the 118 young male participants in their study, as symbolic of the masculine ideals of ‘minimi[s]ing problems and resignation’ (2010, p.119). Men can, therefore, be virtually at death’s door before rocking up (or being carried on a stretcher) to seek professional help (2010, p.119). It will be a fraught process indeed to actualise a new men’s health policy in Australia, when no one is allowed to tackle that out of control elephant in the room. Hegemonic masculinity, dare I say it again, does impose a considerable health burden on men and their significant others…