Toward an Integrative Psychology of Masculinities

Public Significance Statement This article provides a definition of masculinities by integrating scholarship from different fields of study. The authors describe five domains of masculinities that can guide future research and practice. Despite advances in the psychological study of masculinities, the term "masculinity" or "masculinities" has been conceptualized differently across diverse theoretical approaches. To address these challenges, this article seeks to integrate the myriad ways that masculinities have been studied by scholars. Drawing on scholarship from various fields, the authors delineate fived domains of masculinities-self-ascribed, other-ascribed, situational, performative, and macro masculinities. Reflecting an integration of these five domains, masculinities are conceived as the constellation of cultural and individual meanings attached to men and boys that are (a) attributed to the self as well as to (b) people, concepts, and objects; (c) embedded in situational cues; (d) performed as social practices; and (e) distributed through ecological influences. The authors propose a framework that pieces together these domains of masculinities, describes how they differ in their stability and proximity of influence on people's lives, and explicates their linkages with each other. Finally, the authors explain how the framework and the five domains can guide future psychological research and practice.