Addressing the Situation: Some Evidence for the Significance of Microcontexts With the Gender Role Conflict Construct

Recent reviews and critiques of masculinity research have called for subtler understandings of how gender is both socially contingent (Addis, Mansfield, & Syzdek, 2010) and socially constructed (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) within the changing contexts of men's everyday lives. Perspectives and empirical work that embrace the contextual nature of masculine expression have been especially underrepresented (O'Neil, 2008a). However, the term context has perhaps been defined too narrowly thus far to refer only to the factors that may moderate or mediate the impact of gender role conflict on various outcomes for men. In this exploratory study, we examined, through quantitative and experimental methods, a broader notion of contextuality that focuses on how situations impact the report of gender role conflict itself. Consistent with hypotheses, we found that an experimental manipulation prior to administration of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, & Wrightsman, 1986) significantly altered participants' scores on this widely used and validated measure. These effects obtained regardless of whether men scored high or low on a measure of self-concept clarity, suggesting that the result is not an artifact produced only by men unclear about their overall identity. The findings support the notion that to be understood fully, masculine expression must be understood in both its state-like and trait-like aspects.