Do Threats to Masculinity Result in More Aggressive Driving Behavior?

Research on precarious manhood suggests that, in response to perceived threats to their masculinity, men may act to reassert their masculinity through potentially harmful behaviors. In the present study, we sought to apply the precarious manhood paradigm to a public health and safety area relevant to men: driving behaviors. In Study 1, we used a false feedback manipulation to induce threatened masculinity. Men in the threat condition reported greater anger in response to hypothetical driving scenarios compared to men in the no-threat condition. Risk-taking, violence, and winning subscales of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-46 did not moderate the effect of condition. In Study 2, we used the same manipulation to induce threatened masculinity and assessed the driving behaviors of men performing an overtaking task in a driving simulator. There was no effect of the manipulation for men in Study 2. Implications of the present study for men's health and safety research, as well as the precarious manhood paradigm, are presented. It may be useful for research to continue to explore the effects of threats to masculinity using more complex tasks.