The Soweto Men’s Cohort Project

Previous studies have shown men who subscribe to precarious manhood beliefs may experience a higher risk of stress-related poor health following loss of masculinity status. Additionally, men who experience social pressure to conform to masculine norms exhibit lower self-esteem and masculine identities validated by social definitions of what it means to be a man may discourage help-seeking behaviour, leading to poorer health outcomes.

But there are few studies which have investigated the link between motivation of and validation for masculinity and the relationship to health in LMICs. In South Africa, with high levels of gender-based violence (GBV), men may also perceive the allocation of resources to empower women to be at their expense. While this is a necessary social transition, the impact it has on men in society is unclear with some suggestions that the high levels of GBV result from men feeling the need to “re-establish their masculinity and dominance”. However, there is little research on the impact of social transition on the emotional state of men, and how it relates to masculine identities and health.

Dr Lukhanyo Nyati, a postdoctoral fellow at Wits, is leading this study is to assess the relationship between motivation of gender identities, perceived emotional invalidation and health. The study seeks to characterise gender stereotypes in young adult, urban black males, and females in South Africa and to understand perceived emotional invalidation, determining the relationship between gender identity and health outcomes, help-seeking behaviour, and access to health services to see if the relationship between perceived emotional invalidation and health is mediated by gender identity.