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This investigation describes the construction and examination of psychometric properties of the Filipino Adherence to Masculinity Expectations (FAME) Scale using a sample of male university students (N = 834) in the Philippines. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) indicated support for seven dimensions: Assertiveness and Dominance; Family Orientedness; Sense of Community; Responsibility; Integrity; Intelligence and Academic Achievement; and Respectful Deference to Women and the Elderly. The FAME had excellent internal consistency reliability (Cronbach α = .95). It was apparent that the FAME deals with largely prosocial ideals of masculinity in the Philippines. In terms of convergent validity, the FAME had some similar but mostly distinct dimensions as compared to a measure developed for use with U.S. samples: Masculinity Attitudes, Stress, and Conformity Questionnaire (MASC; Nabavi & Green, 2003). The discussion explores future directions of research and potential uses of the FAME in clinical work with Filipino male clients.
KEYWORDS FILIPINO MEN, MASCULINITY, FACTOR ANALYSIS, VALIDITY, EMIC
The gender role identity paradigm, which dominated research on gender beginning in the early 1930s, viewed masculinity as based on inherent traits or genes. Fleck (1981) proposed that this model does not sufficiently account for the formation of masculine ideology. Instead, he postulated a Gender Role Strain paradigm wherein masculinity is regarded as a cultural construction. In this view, men's behavior is accounted for by the conceptions of masculinity that men internalize from their culture. Given this perspective, there is no single, invariant, and universal masculinity, but rather there are masculinities that vary by age, culture, race, ethnic group, social class, sexual orientation, life stage, marital status, and historical era Brod, 1987; Gilmore, 1990; Lazur & Majors, 1995; Levant et al., 1992; Levant & Majors, 1997; Levant, Wu & Fischer, 1996; Fleck, Sonenstein & Ku, 1993).
In the gender role strain paradigm, socialization practices may be inferred from gender ideologies. Thus, masculinity ideology is an essential construct in understanding the development and maintenance of the male gender role Lazur & Majors, 1995). Masculinity ideology is defined as "an individual's internalization of cultural belief systems and attitudes toward masculinity and men's roles" Fleck et al., 1993, p. 88). Given this definition, masculinity ideology varies as a function of differences in social, historical, political and cultural context. Despite the variety in masculinity...