Traditional Masculinity and Male Violence Against Women: A Meta-Analytic Examination

Traditional masculinity (TM) is conceptualized as a risk factor for the well-being of men and those around them. Further, TM is often considered a key factor in male violence against women, and the positive association between these two factors has been supported by numerous studies. To quantify this relationship, a meta-analysis was conducted on 57 independent samples (mainly from the United States) from 10,772 respondents, reported in 51 articles between 1992 and 2021. We observed that TM positively correlated with male attitudes toward violence and violent behavior against women. The relationship between TM and attitudes toward violence was moderated by a type of TM (traditional masculinity ideology, conformity to masculine norms, experience of gender role conflict), a type of violence (sexual harassment, rape, physical, and psychological violence), but not by type of relationship between the aggressor and the target (intimate and nonintimate partner violence). The strongest correlations were between traditional masculinity ideology and attitudes toward violence and between traditional masculinity and sexual harassment. At the same time, none of the mentioned factors moderated the relationship between TM and violent behavior. The relationship between traditional masculinity and male violence against women was also moderated by the domain of traditional masculinity. The strongest association was between Status/Power over Women and violence against women. Furthermore, the results should be interpreted in light of substantial heterogeneity in the size of the correlations and the presence of publication bias.