Masculinity Contingency and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Men Who Have Sex With Men

Prevalence rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among sexual minority men are elevated in comparison to heterosexual men. Thus, there is a need to examine factors linked with IPV among sexual minority men. The present study examined the link between masculinity contingency-the degree to which a man derives self-worth from feeling masculine-and IPV among a sample of 491 sexual minority cisgender men recruited online. We hypothesized that masculinity contingency would be linked to IPV perpetration over and above the known IPV perpetration risk factors of alcohol use and adverse childhood experiences. Supporting the hypotheses, the results indicated that masculine contingency was linked to IPV perpetration significantly, over and above the relationship between alcohol use and adverse childhood experiences, and IPV perpetration. Masculinity contingency may be a fruitful concept to integrate into research on men's perpetration of IPV and to incorporate into interventions for sexual minority men who have perpetrated IPV.