Is Traditional Masculinity Ideology Stable Over Time in Men and Women?

Public Significance Statement Traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) represents men and women's gendered expectations of men and is a widely studied construct in the psychology of men and masculinities. It is often considered a stable individual difference (e.g., trait-like) quality. However, little is known about its stability over time. We found that a general TMI factor, as measured by the Male Role Norms Inventory-Very Brief (MRNI-VB) was highly stable over time, thus providing support for the conception of TMI as a stable individual difference variable. Traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) is a central concept in the masculine gender role strain paradigm and reflects rigid, sexist, and old-fashioned beliefs about how men should think, feel, and behave. Of all measures of TMI, the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI) has received the most attention in the extant literature, particularly with respect to psychometric evaluation. TMI, as measured by the MRNI, has been theorized to be a stable individual difference construct. As of yet, only one unpublished study has examined the temporal stability of MRNI, relying on traditional test-retest reliability methods over a 3-month period of time. Test-retest correlation coefficients are generated by using (nonlatent) scores, thus conflating true variance and error variance over time. To address these limitations, we examined TMI as a latent construct across three assessments over a 1-year period. A longitudinal community sample of United States men and women (Wave 1 N = 4,102; Wave 2 N = 790; Wave 3 N = 520) completed the 5-item MRNI-Very Brief form (MRNI-VB). Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to test the MRNI-VB across four levels of temporal invariance: configural (no change in the factor structure over time), metric (no change in the meaning of the latent construct over time), scalar (no change to the zero point of the latent construct over time), and residuals (no change in the degree of precision over time). Analyses supported all four levels of temporal invariance among men and women. Our results suggest that TMI, as measured by the MRNI-VB, can be considered a stable individual difference construct in men and women.