Reacción a "Boys respond aggressively when they perceive their masculinity is threatened"

In the group's earlier work, they had shown that adult men who are made to believe they are not of the typical gender respond aggressively. They now address the same issue in adolescents during the early part of puberty and late puberty. They do this by playing a game that makes them believe they are unmasculine.

The study is well designed and they monitor the adolescents' puberty, a crucial point that is not done in most studies.

The results they obtain are interesting:

• In boys where the response motivation is not autonomous, a correlation is found with 'not angering parents' and the environment regarding their masculinity.
• Fathers with a hegemonic view of masculinity reside in more conservative geographic areas, are less educated and have lower incomes.

It is an original work, well thought out, with careful methodological control, which demonstrates the influence of the socio-economic environment in which they develop on their autonomy (one might think that this was already known or suspected, but the work demonstrates it).

The leader of the group, Professor Andrei Cimpian of New York University, is an experienced and highly regarded researcher. The journal, Developmental Science, is an important one with a good impact factor.