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The Link Between Men’s Zero-Sum Gender Beliefs and Mental Health:
Findings From Chile and Croatia
Y. Joel Wong and Elyssa M. Klann
Indiana University Bloomington
Nataša Bijeli´
c
CESI-Center for Education, Counselling and Research,
Zagreb, Croatia
Francisco Aguayo
Fundación CulturaSalud, Santiago, Chile
Zero-sum gender beliefs (ZSGBs) refer to the perception that the advancement of a gender outgroup’s
rights (e.g., women’s rights) would be at the expense of a gender ingroup’s rights (e.g., men’s rights).
Although it seems obvious that men’s ZSGBs could be harmful to women, the authors of this study
propose that such beliefs are ultimately also harmful to men’s own mental health. Using multigroup
structural equation modeling, this cross-national study tested the link between men’s ZSGBs and
psychological distress. Participants were 1,224 men from Chile and Croatia who were in heterosexual
relationships and living with their female partners. The results showed that men’s ZSGBs were positively
related to psychological distress whereas relationship satisfaction was negatively related to psychological
distress. ZSGBs were also negatively associated with participation in domestic tasks and relationship
satisfaction whereas childhood exposure to male role models who participated in domestic chores was
negatively linked to ZSGBs. These paths were structurally invariant across both countries with 1
exception: the negative association between ZSGBs and relationship satisfaction was stronger among
Croatian than among Chilean men. In addition, the authors identified several mediation effects that
explained the link between ZSGBs and psychological distress. These results draw attention to the
pernicious nature of ZSGBs and the need for gender equality programs to include interventions to reduce
men’s ZSGBs.
Keywords: zero-sum beliefs, gender, mental health, men
Across the last decade, the world has witnessed many govern-
ments and nongovernmental organizations’ public commitment to
enacting laws and policies that promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women. These efforts have led to women’s
increased participation in education, politics, and the labor market
(World Bank, 2011;UN Women, 2015). Although this global
trend is to be welcomed, laws and policies that promote gender
equality do not necessarily result in gender egalitarian attitudes
among local populations (Dworkin, Hatcher, Colvin, & Peacock,
2013;Kehn & Ruthig, 2013). In particular, some men perceive
women’s rights as a zero-sum game by believing that an emphasis
on women’s rights inevitably implies that men will lose out on
their rights. We refer to this perception as zero-sum gender beliefs
(ZSGBs). Our main thesis in this article is that men are ultimately
harmed by their own ZSGBs. We focus in particular on testing a
model that explains how Chilean and Croatian men’s ZSGBs
negatively affect their mental health.
Instrumental Model of Group Conflict
The conceptual basis of our study is grounded in the Instrumen-
tal Model of Group Conflict (Esses, Jackson, & Armstrong, 1998).
According to this model, perceived intergroup competition is
caused by a combination of resource stress and the salience of
competitive outgroups. Resource stress refers to the belief that
access to economic (e.g., jobs) and psychological resources (e.g.,
power and prestige) is limited for one’s group within a society. The
extent to which individuals experience resource stress is influ-
enced by scarcity of resources (e.g., high unemployment due to a
recession), perceived unequal distribution of resources, and a pref-
erence for a hierarchical structure in society (e.g., socially domi-
nant groups tend to be more susceptible; Esses, Dovidio, Danso,
Jackson, & Semenya, 2005). Applied to the context of gender
relations, men with traditional gender role beliefs might be more
Editor’s Note. Dr. Mike C. Parent, Texas Tech University, served as a
guest editor for this article.—WML
This article was published Online First February 25, 2016.
Y. Joel Wong and Elyssa M. Klann, Department of Counseling and
Educational Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington; Nataša Bijeli´
c,
CESI-Center for Education, Counselling and Research, Zagreb, Croatia;
Francisco Aguayo, Fundación CulturaSalud, Santiago, Chile.
Nataša Bijeli´
c and Francisco Aguayo contributed equally to this article;
the order of authorship for these authors was randomly determined.
The authors are grateful to Gary Barker and Ruti Levtov of Promundo
for sharing the IMAGES data and for their advice on a draft of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Y. Joel
Wong, Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Indiana
University Bloomington, 201 North Rose Avenue, School of Education,
Bloomington, IN 47405. E-mail: joelwong@indiana.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Psychology of Men & Masculinity © 2016 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 18, No. 1, 12–19 1524-9220/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000035
12
susceptible to experience resource stress when they become aware
of policies that promote women’s rights (e.g., a policy that pro-
motes equal opportunity employment with regard to gender). Such
men might be unaware of the privileges conferred on them by
virtue of their gender status in society (Johnson, 2006) and instead
perceive that they are unfairly disadvantaged by their gender.
In addition to resource stress, the salience of competitive out-
groups is another factor that contributes to perceived outgroup
competition (Esses et al., 1998). For instance, highly skilled racial
minority immigrants that look visibly different from a majority
group are more likely to be perceived as competitors because
visible differences enhance the salience of one’s social identity. A
similar logic might apply to gender relations in that some men
might perceive women as competitors for jobs, power, and prestige
(Dworkin et al., 2013;Strebel et al., 2006). Men who live with
female partners may feel this gender competition in a particularly
salient way; changes in relational power in the home may serve as
a personal example of the perceived mutually exclusive nature of
women’s and men’s social power.
According to the Instrumental Model of Group Conflict (Esses
et al., 2005), zero-sum beliefs, the perception that gains made by
an outgroup will be at the expense of one’s own group, are the
cognitive manifestation of perceived intergroup competition. Be-
haviorally, the endorsement of zero-sum beliefs might lead to
discrimination against outgroups in an effort to decrease outgroup
competitiveness and protect one’s rights (Esses et al., 2005;
Wilkins, Wellman, Babbitt, Toosi, & Schad, 2015). Although
research on this model as well as zero-sum beliefs has been largely
conducted on attitudes toward immigrants and interracial relations
(e.g., Norton & Sommers, 2011), Esses et al. (2005) acknowledged
that their model is also applicable to gender relations, particularly
when men perceive women’s rights as a threat to their own.
Indeed, men’s ZSGBs can be conceptualized as a contemporary
expression of sexism given that negative reactions to women’s
rights are embedded within such beliefs (Glick & Fiske, 1996).
Not surprisingly, researchers have found support for the proposi-
tion that men endorse higher levels of ZSGBs than women (Kehn
& Ruthig, 2013;Wilkins et al., 2015). In the same vein, a recent
survey of men, based on nationally representative data in the
United states, found that four in nine participants perceived it is
harder to be a man today than in their fathers’ generation (A
Woman’s Nation, 2015); the most common reasons men cited for
this conclusion were society’s increased emphasis on gender
equality and women attaining a stronger position financially and in
the workplace, factors that clearly reflect men’s ZSGBs.
ZSGBs: Antecedents and Pathways to Mental Health
Although the negative impact of men’s ZGSBs on women might
seem obvious, we propose that ZSGBs are also harmful to men. No
published research has tested the effects of ZSGBs on men’s
mental health. Nonetheless, the link between ZSGBs and mental
health makes theoretical sense. Esses and colleagues’ (2005) sur-
mised that the emotional reactions accompanying zero-sum beliefs
include fear and anxiety. Men who strongly embrace ZSGBs might
experience a heightened sense of threat arising from the misper-
ception that the growing importance of women’s rights would be
at their expense.
We further posit that men’s ZSGBs not only directly and neg-
atively impact their mental health but may also indirectly influence
their mental health through interpersonal factors. Specifically,
research has documented the positive link between zero-sum be-
liefs and self-image goals, which involves a primary focus on
one’s own needs at the expense of caring for others as well as
viewing other people as threatening to one’s own goals (Crocker &
Canevello, 2008). Although no known study has been conducted
on the link between ZSGBs and romantic relationship satisfaction,
previous research has found support for the inverse association
between men’s hostile sexism and relationship satisfaction (Ham-
mond & Overall, 2013). In light of prior research documenting the
positive link between couples’ relationship problems and psycho-
logical distress (Villeneuve et al., 2015), men’s romantic relation-
ship satisfaction might function as a mediator that explains the
connection between men’s ZSGBs and their mental health.
In the context of heterosexual relationships in which two part-
ners live together, men with high levels of ZSGBs might view their
female partners as potential competitors for power, prestige, and
economic resources. Therefore, they might be less willing to
contribute to the welfare of their partners. Specifically, they might
be reluctant to participate in household chores, particularly those
that are stereotypically considered feminine (e.g., washing clothes
and preparing food); this might in turn add strain to men’s rela-
tionships with their female partners, who may perceive them as
unsupportive or uncaring. Indeed, researchers have found that in
heterosexual households, men’s participation in household chores
was positively associated with the quality of their relationship with
their partners (Barstad, 2014) and that inequity in the division of
household labor between partners was positively linked to psycho-
logical distress for men and women (Bird, 1999).
Given the potential negative consequences of ZSGBs, it is
important to identify protective antecedents that might buffer
against the development of ZSGBs. In this regard we propose that
childhood exposure to gender egalitarian male role models might
arrest the development of men’s ZSGBs (Croft, Schmader, &
Block, 2015). Gender role socialization models suggest that men’s
gendered beliefs and behaviors are influenced by environmental
factors, which include messages about gender roles transmitted by
family members and male role models (McHale, Crouter, &
Tucker, 1999;O’Neil, 2012). Accordingly, men who, as children,
were exposed to male role models who contributed to household
chores might develop more gender egalitarian beliefs and lower
levels of ZSGBs; they might also be motivated as adults to con-
tribute to household chores themselves.
Gender Equality in Chile and Croatia
Although ZSGBs likely exist in most societies, Chile and Cro-
atia might be interesting sites for the study of ZSGBs because both
countries have recently introduced many gender egalitarian laws
and policies. After decades of Communist rule as well as a war for
independence in the 1990s, Croatia enacted several gender equality
laws and policies to prepare for ascension to membership in the
European Union (Dobroti´
c, Matkovi´
c, & Zrinšcˇak, 2013); these
include criminalizing marital rape and sexual harassment and the
enactment of an Act on Gender Equality that bans discrimination
in employment and introduces gender quotas to encourage greater
representation of women in politics (OECD Development Centre,
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13
ZERO-SUM GENDER BELIEFS
2015a). Likewise, Chile underwent a political transition in the
1990s after 17 years of military dictatorship under Augusto Pi-
nochet. The 1990s and 2000s witnessed many new gender equality
laws and policies, including new laws to strengthen women’s
rights in divorce proceedings, antidomestic violence legislation, a
new law penalizing workplace sexual harassment, the prohibition
of employment discrimination on the grounds of sex, and programs
to promote women’s land ownership (OECD Development Centre,
2015b). Chile elected its first female head of state, Michelle
Bachelet, in 2006.
Not surprisingly, Chile and Croatia are ranked 66th and 55th,
respectively, on the Global Gender Gap Index, which measures
gender equality in health, education, economy, and politics, put-
ting them both in the upper half of 142 countries in the world
(World Economic Forum, 2014). Against the backdrop of laws and
policies promoting gender equality, one might expect relatively
low levels of ZSGBs in Chile and Croatia. Nevertheless, applying
the Instrumental Model of Group Conflict (Esses et al., 1998), the
enactment of gender egalitarian policies and laws might also
trigger discomfort among some Chilean and Croatian men from
traditional, patriarchal backgrounds who are frequently exposed to
and personally threatened by the advancement of women’ s rights.
Therefore, the harmful impact of men’s ZSGBs on their romantic
relationships and mental health might be particularly salient in
Chile and Croatia in light of these sociopolitical developments.
Research Questions
Our overarching goal in this study was to examine the link
between men’s ZSGBs and mental health in Chile and Croatia
using multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM). Given our
variables of interest, our focus was on heterosexual men who lived
with their female partners. We tested a model that proposes an
antecedent of ZSGBs as well as the mechanisms through which
such beliefs are linked to psychological distress (see Figure 1).
We had three sets of research questions. First, in this model we
hypothesized that men’s childhood exposure to male role models
who participated in domestic tasks would be negatively associated
with ZSGBs, which would be negatively associated with men’s
greater participation in domestic tasks, which would then be pos-
itively linked to relationship satisfaction with their partners, which
in turn would be negatively linked to psychological distress. As
shown in Figure 1, we also predicted that ZSGBs would be directly
and positively associated with psychological distress and nega-
tively linked to relationship satisfaction, and that exposure to male
role participation in domestic tasks would be positively correlated
with men’s participation in domestic chores. Men’s level of edu-
cation was added as a covariate in this model because of previous
research indicating that education was associated with men’s gen-
der attitudes (Aguayo, Correa, & Cristi, 2011;Levtov, Barker,
Contreras-Urbina, Heilman, & Verma, 2014). Following Wong
and Horn’s (2016) recommendations for researchers to examine
alternative, theoretically plausible models in research on men and
masculinities, we also tested a model in which the direct path from
ZSGBs to psychological distress was constrained to zero. Second,
we tested whether the paths in our model were structurally invari-
ant across Chile and Croatia; that is, did the associations among the
variables in our model differ significantly across countries? Direc-
tional hypotheses were not provided for this research question
because of the lack of prior research on cross-country and cultural
differences in the link between ZSGBs and mental health. Third,
given our specific interest in the link between ZSGBs and mental
health, we also tested all possible mediation (indirect) paths in-
volving ZSGBs and psychological distress.
Method
Participants
This study analyzed archival cross-sectional survey data from
1,224 male participants (495 from Chile and 729 from Croatia).
These participants were part of a multinational project known as
the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES;
Levtov et al., 2014) conducted by Promundo (a nongovernmental
organization that promotes gender justice) and the International
Center for Research on Women (ICRW). IMAGES data were
collected from eight countries—Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, Croatia,
-.18 (.04)***
-.16 (.04)***
.10 (.04)*
.09 (.03)**
-.11 (.04)**
-.08 (.03)*
Relationship
Satisfaction
Participation in
Domestic Chores
Zero-Sum
Gender Beliefs
Psychological
Distress
Exposure to Male
Role Model
Participation
.10 (.04)*
.14
(
.05
)
**
Figure 1. Structural equation model. Indicator variables and covariates are omitted from this figure. The
numbers outside and inside of the parentheses represent standardized coefficients and standard errors,
respectively. The numbers above and below refer to the parameters for Croatia and Chile, respectively.
ⴱ
p⬍
.05,
ⴱⴱ
p⬍.01,
ⴱⴱⴱ
p⬍.001.
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14 WONG, KLANN, BIJELIC
´, AND AGUAYO
Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Mexico, and Rwanda—
although our study focused only on Chile and Croatia. The data
were collected by local research partners in each country (Fun-
dación CulturaSalud in Chile and CESI-Center for Education,
Counseling and Research in Croatia) from 2009 until 2012. In
accordance with our research questions, we only analyzed data
from participants who identified as heterosexual and lived with a
female partner. Demographic information and descriptive statistics
on the indicator variables in our study are provided in Table 1.
Procedures
In each country, probability proportion to size (PPS) sampling
and stratified random sampling methods were used to choose
neighborhoods from which to collect data. The sample was strat-
ified by place of residence and socioeconomic status in Chile and
by age and place of residence (rural vs. urban) in Croatia. The data
were collected from three metropolitan areas in Chile: Valparaiso,
Concepcion, and Santiago. In Croatia the data were collected from
Zagreb (the capital and largest city) as well as towns and villages
in two rural counties in eastern Croatia.
The survey contained 250 questions about several subjects,
including home and work behaviors, attitudes about women and
gender, and early life experiences. It was translated into partici-
pants’ languages and then checked for fidelity of meaning by local
partner organizations in each country. The institutional review
board of the ICRW approved this study. The survey took between
45 min and 1 hr to complete and was either self-administered or
administered by a male interviewer.
Measures
A description of all items used to create latent variables are
provided in Table 1. The items were in part adapted from the
Norwegian Gender Equality and Quality of Life Survey (Holter,
Svare, & Egeland, 2009) and were developed by researchers in
Promundo and ICRW in consultation with local research partners
from each country in the IMAGES study. Three items were used
to create the latent variable of ZSGBs. Participants responded on
a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)to4
(strongly agree). Four items were used to create the latent variable
measuring men’s participation in domestic tasks that have tradi-
tionally been associated with female gender roles. Participants
responded on a 5-point Likert scale (1 ⫽I do everything,3⫽
shared equally or done together,and5⫽she does everything)to
describe who did certain domestic tasks. Five items were utilized
for the latent variable measuring men’s childhood exposure to
male role models who participate in domestic tasks. Participants
responded on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from never to fre-
quently when asked questions including “When you were a child
or teenager, did your father or another man in the
home. . .[participate in a domestic task].” The latent variable of
relationship satisfaction was measured by three items. Participants
rated how much they enjoyed doing things with their partners.
Responses were measured on a 5-point Likert scale for which 1 ⫽
do not enjoy and 5 ⫽greatly enjoy. Finally, the latent variable of
psychological distress was indicated by three items. Participants
reported how often they experienced symptoms in the past month.
Responses were measured on a 4-point Likert scale for which 1 ⫽
never and 4 ⫽often. Given that these items were developed for the
purposes of the IMAGES study, information on the psychometric
properties of the measures used in our study is not available. The
proportion of missing data for each item used in our analyses was
low (range of 0 –9%).
Data Analytic Plan and Results
To test our hypothesized model (see Figure 1), we utilized
multigroup SEM in Mplus 7.2 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998 –2012).
Lubke and Muthén (2004) recommended treating Likert-type
items as ordered categorical variables rather than as continuous
variables when testing multigroup models. Therefore, we used the
robust weighted least squares with means and variance adjusted
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics
Item Chile % Croatia %
Highest education level
No formal education 1.6 .0
Primary 10.9 3.7
Senior secondary 53.5 54.3
Above senior secondary 33.9 42.0
M(SD)M(SD)
Age, years 43.91 (9.41) 43.99 (10.58)
ZSGBs
1. When women work they are
taking jobs away from men 1.62 (0.72) 1.56 (0.62)
2. When women get rights they
are taking rights away from
men 1.56 (0.69) 1.55 (0.62)
3. Rights for women mean that
men lose out 1.60 (0.71) 1.56 (0.62)
Participation in domestic tasks (How
did you and your partner
divide...)
1. Washing clothes? 1.85 (0.77) 1.75 (0.71)
2. Cleaning the house? 2.05 (0.80) 2.26 (0.72)
3. Cleaning the toilet? 1.90 (0.79) 1.99 (0.72)
4. Preparing food? 2.05 (0.81) 2.19 (0.72)
Exposure to male role model
participation in domestic tasks
(When you were a child or
teenager, did your father or
another man in the home...)
1. Prepare food? 2.42 (1.14) 2.44 (0.97)
2. Clean the house? 2.23 (1.10) 2.20 (0.93)
3. Wash clothes? 1.96 (1.05) 1.79 (0.84)
4. Clean the bathroom/toilet? 1.89 (1.07) 1.78 (0.88)
5. Take care of you or your
siblings? 2.78 (1.12) 3.26 (0.88)
Relationship satisfaction (What
things do you do with your
partner that you most enjoy?)
1. Traveling 4.31 (0.98) 4.28 (0.81)
2. Talking 4.37 (0.80) 4.11 (0.77)
3. Having meals together 4.49 (0.71) 4.34 (0.62)
Psychological distress
1. Have you experienced stress in
the last month? 2.13 (1.06) 2.71 (1.01)
2. Have you experienced
depression in the last month? 1.49 (0.79) 2.00 (0.93)
3. Have you experienced a loss of
sexual desire in the last month? 1.44 (0.79) 1.87 (0.87)
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15
ZERO-SUM GENDER BELIEFS
(WLSMV) estimator. The WLSMV estimator uses pairwise dele-
tion to address missing data. In terms of model fit, we used the
comparative fit index (CFI; a value close to or at least .95) and the
root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA, a value close
to or less than .06; Hu & Bentler, 1999).
We began by testing the configural invariance of our measure-
ment model. As shown in Table 2, the measurement models for
Chile and Croatia (Models A and B, respectively) demonstrated
good fit. All factor loadings were also significant (p⬍.001). Next,
we compared a multigroup baseline model in which all paths in our
hypothesized model were unconstrained (Model C) with a nested
model in which the factor loadings were constrained to be equal
across countries (Model D). The
2
difference test was not signif-
icant, ⌬scaled
2
(13) ⫽16.62, p⫽.217, indicating measurement
invariance across countries. The baseline model was also not
significantly different from a nested model in which all factor
loadings as well as structural paths were constrained to be equal
across countries (Model E), ⌬scaled
2
(24) ⫽29.55, p⫽.200.
Although this finding implies structural invariance, it is possible
that individual structural paths might differ across countries. Using
the Wald test of parameter constraint on a model with uncon-
strained structural paths, we found that all of the structural paths
were not significantly different across countries,
2
(1) ⱕ1.33,
ps⬎.05, except for one path—the path from ZSGBs to relation-
ship satisfaction,
2
(1) ⫽6.14, p⫽.013. Consistent with this
finding, we found that a model with all paths constrained to be
equal except for the path from ZSGBs to relationship satisfaction
(Model F) demonstrated a better fit to the data than the nested
model with all paths constrained to be equal, ⌬
2
(1) ⫽7.06, p⫽
.008. Finally, the alternative nested model with the path from
ZSGBs to psychological distress constrained to be zero (Model G)
was a significantly poorer fit than the model that retained the direct
path from ZSGBs to psychological distress (Model F), ⌬scaled
2
(1) ⫽7.25, p⫽.007. Therefore, Model F was selected as our
final model.
Our first set of research questions focused on direct associations
among variables in our model. As hypothesized (see Figure 1),
across both countries, ZGSBs were positively related to psycho-
logical distress and negatively associated with relationship satis-
faction and participation in domestic chores. Relationship satisfac-
tion was negatively related to psychological distress. Exposure to
male role model participation was positively associated with par-
ticipation in domestic tasks and negatively linked to ZSGBs. In
addition, men’s level of highest education was significantly cor-
related with higher relationship satisfaction (Croatia: ⫽.12,
SE ⫽.03; Chile: ⫽.13, SE ⫽.03; ps⬍.001), greater partici-
pation in domestic tasks (Croatia: ⫽.08, SE ⫽.04; Chile: ⫽
.06, SE ⫽.03; ps⬍.05), and lower levels of ZSGBs (Croatia:
⫽⫺.16, SE ⫽.03; Chile: ⫽⫺.15, SE ⫽.03; ps⬍.001), but
not with psychological distress (Croatia: ⫽⫺.05, SE ⫽.04;
Chile: ⫽⫺.05, SE ⫽.03; ps⬎.05).
Our second set of research questions tested whether the associ-
ations among variables in our model differed significantly across
Croatia and Chile. As shown in the preceding Wald test analyses,
all of the paths in our model were structurally invariant with the
exception of the path from ZSGBs to relationship satisfaction,
which was significantly different for Croatia and Chile. The neg-
ative association between ZSGBs and relationship satisfaction was
stronger among Croatians than among Chileans (see Figure 1).
Overall, our model accounted for (a) 6% (ƒ
2
⫽0.06) and 5%
(ƒ
2
⫽0.05) of the variance in ZSGBs for Chile and Croatia,
respectively; (b) 8% (ƒ
2
⫽0.09) and 16% (ƒ
2
⫽0.19) of the
variance in relationship satisfaction for Chile and Croatia, respec-
tively; (c) 7% (ƒ
2
⫽0.08) and 10% (ƒ
2
⫽0.10) of the variance in
participation in domestic tasks for Chile and Croatia, respectively;
and (d) 5% (ƒ
2
⫽0.05) and 6% (ƒ
2
⫽0.06) of the variance in
psychological distress for Chile and Croatia, respectively. On the
basis of Cohen’s (1988) guidelines on effect sizes (f
2
values
greater than or equal to 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 represent small,
moderate, and large effect sizes, respectively), most of the effect
sizes in our model would be considered small, with the exception
of the variance accounted for in relationship satisfaction among
Croatian men, which constitutes a medium effect size.
For our third set of research questions on the pathways linking
ZSGBs and psychological distress, we examined mediation effects
using bias-corrected bootstrapping by creating 5,000 bootstrap
samples. Significant mediation effects were inferred if the 95%
confidence intervals (CIs) of the indirect effect excluded zero. We
tested all possible mediation effects involving ZSGBs and psycho-
logical distress. The indirect paths from exposure to male role
model participation to ZGSBs to psychological distress were iden-
tical and significant for both countries, B⫽⫺.012, 95% CI
[-.030, ⫺.002]. The indirect paths from exposure to male role
model participation to ZSGBs to relationship satisfaction to psy-
chological distress were significant for both countries, Chile:
B⫽⫺.003, 95% CI [–.010, ⫺.001]; Croatia: B⫽⫺.007, 95% CI
[–.016, ⫺.003], as were the indirect paths from ZGSBs to rela-
tionship satisfaction to psychological distress, Chile: B⫽.013,
Table 2
Goodness-of-Fit Indices for SEM Analyses
Model df Scaled
2
RMSEA [CI] CFI
Model A: Chile measurement model 125 212.33 .04 [.03, .05] 1.00
Model B: Croatia measurement model 125 382.35 .05 [.05, .06] .98
Model C: Multigroup baseline model (no equality constraints) 308 652.99 .04 [.04, .05] .99
Model D: Model C with factor loadings constrained to be equal 321 668.50 .04 [.04, .05] .99
Model E: Multigroup model with factor loadings and structural paths constrained to be equal 332 628.97 .04 [.03, .04] .99
Model F (final model): Model E with the path from ZSGBs to relationship satisfaction freely
estimated 331 617.72 .04 [.03, .04] .99
Model G (alternative model): Model F with the path from ZSGBs to psychological
distressed constrained to zero 332 627.66 .04 [.03, .04] .99
Note. All scaled
2
values were significant at p⬍.001.
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16 WONG, KLANN, BIJELIC
´, AND AGUAYO
95% CI [.003, .035]; Croatia: B⫽.029, 95% CI [.012, .065]. In
contrast, the indirect paths from exposure to male role model
participation to ZGSBs to participation in domestic tasks to rela-
tionship satisfaction to psychological distress were identical and
nonsignificant for both countries, B⫽.000, 95% CI [–.001, .000],
as were the indirect paths from ZGSBs to participation in domestic
tasks to relationship satisfaction to psychological distress, B⫽
.001, 95% CI [.000, .003].
Discussion
Our findings advance the psychology of men and masculinities
in several new directions. Although it seems obvious that men’s
ZSGBs are potentially harmful to women, our study provides the
first body of evidence demonstrating that men’s ZSGBs may
ultimately be harmful to their own mental health. Using multi-
group SEM, our study tested a model that explored the pathways
through which ZSGBs affected the psychological distress of Chil-
ean and Croatian men who were in heterosexual relationships and
living with their female partners.
Across Chile and Croatia, men’s mean levels of ZSGBs were
generally low, as evidenced by the mean scores on the three ZSGB
items, which were all below the midpoint of the items’ 4-point
scale (see Table 1). These relatively low scores perhaps reflect the
progress that Chile and Croatia have made in gender equality over
the past few decades given that they are both ranked in the upper
half of countries in the world on the Global Gender Gap Index
(World Economic Forum, 2014). In addition, these relatively low
scores may partly be a function of our sample; that is, a large
proportion of our participants were from urban areas, which might
reflect more progressive views on gender.
Nevertheless, the significant relationships between ZSGBs and
other outcomes paint a more nuanced picture of the role of ZSGBs
in Chilean and Croatian societies. Across both countries, we found
that men’s ZSGBs were associated with a host of negative out-
comes, including less participation in domestic chores, poorer
romantic relationship satisfaction, and greater psychological dis-
tress. Our finding that ZSGBs were linked to poorer mental health
dovetail with Esses and colleagues’ (2008) theorizing that the
emotional reactions accompanying zero-sum beliefs include fear
and anxiety. Applying the Instrumental Model of Group Conflict
(Esses et al., 1998), men who adhere strongly to ZSGBs might
experience a heightened sense of threat stemming from the mis-
perception that the empowerment of women implies that their
rights are being taken away. The significant, negative effects of
ZSGBs on men’s domestic lives suggests that men in Chile and
Croatia may feel threatened by a loss of relational power in the
home as women’s social influence increases. Therefore we believe
that the sense of threat that men experience is not only political,
but interpersonal. In addition, the inverse relation between child-
hood exposure to male role models who participated in household
chores and ZSGBs suggests that gender egalitarian behaviors may
produce long-term generational dividends in the form of lower
levels of ZSGBs among men who are exposed to such behaviors.
In the same vein, men with higher levels of education reported
lower levels of ZSGBs. We explore the practical implications of
these findings in a subsequent section of this article.
Another strength of our study is our use of multigroup SEM,
which enabled us to test whether the factor loadings and structural
paths in our model were invariant across both countries. Overall,
we found support for measurement and structural invariance, with
one exception—although the inverse association between ZSGBs
and relationship satisfaction was significant in Chile and Croatia,
it was stronger among Croatian men than among Chilean men. One
possible explanation is the difference in the economic climate of
both countries. Croatia’s economy was badly affected by its war
for independence and its transition to a market economy in the
1990s as well as the Great Recession in 2008 –2009; its economic
growth has remained sluggish in subsequent years. In contrast,
Chile’s economy recovered quickly after the Great Recession and
is now classified as a high-income economy, and Chile is now one
of Latin America’s most prosperous countries (World Bank,
2013). The negative link between ZSGBs and relationship satis-
faction might have been stronger in Croatia because in times of
economic stress the impact of ZSGBs might be more pernicious;
men might be more likely to perceive their female partners as well
as women in general as potential competitors for scarce resources
related to jobs and economic opportunities (Esses et al., 1998).
A third strength of our study is that we identified several
significant pathways that explain the link between ZSGBs and
psychological distress, including indirect paths from (a) childhood
exposure to male role models who participated in domestic chores
to ZGSBs to psychological distress, (b) childhood exposure to
male role models to ZGSBs to relationship satisfaction to psycho-
logical distress, and (c) ZGSBs to relationship satisfaction to
psychological distress. Poorer romantic relationship satisfaction,
but not participation in domestic chores, emerged as a significant
mediator of the association between ZSGBs and psychological
distress. This finding converges with previous research supporting
the inverse association between men’s hostile sexism and relation-
ship satisfaction (Hammond & Overall, 2013) and the positive link
between couples’ relationship problems and psychological distress
(Villeneuve et al., 2015). Men who strongly embrace ZSGBs are
perhaps more predisposed to psychological distress because they
are more likely to view their relationships with their female part-
ners through a competitive rather than a collaborative lens (Dwor-
kin et al., 2013;Strebel et al., 2006).
Limitations and Future Directions
Several limitations in our study should be acknowledged. First,
our findings on the positive link between men’s ZSGBs and
psychological distress could be interpreted against the background
of the sociopolitical climate of Chile and Croatia, which has
witnessed political transformation and the widespread enactment
of gender egalitarian laws and policies over the past 2 decades. It
is not clear if these findings would generalize to other societies that
have not witnessed substantive changes in gender policies and
social norms. Therefore, we encourage research on ZSGBs and
mental health in diverse societies, including highly gender egali-
tarian countries and highly gender inequitable countries. Second,
we did not examine regional differences (e.g., urban vs. rural)
within our sample that might reflect potential variability in ZSGBs.
Third, our findings were based on cross-sectional data; future
longitudinal research is needed to establish the chronological se-
quence of the variables in our model. Fourth, because our analyses
are based on archival data, we did not have the luxury of selecting
measures that have established psychometric properties, and we
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
17
ZERO-SUM GENDER BELIEFS
were confined to using items developed by the original researchers
of the IMAGES project. For instance, in addition to the three items
on psychological distress, it would have been preferable to use a
broader range of items (e.g., items on anxiety symptoms) to
represent the latent variable of psychological distress, although
such items do not exist in the IMAGES project. Given these
psychometric limitations, our findings are best characterized as
preliminary. Fifth, our model tested only two potential mediators
linking ZSGBs with psychological distress—relationship satisfac-
tion and participation in domestic chores. Future research should
examine other mechanisms that connect men’s ZSGBs with psy-
chological distress. For instance, men’s self-image goals (focusing
on one’s own needs at the expense of caring for others; Crocker &
Canevello, 2008) and loneliness might help explain additional
pathways through which ZSGBs affect men’s mental health.
Practical Implications
Our findings offer tentative guidance to policy-makers and
practitioners. In particular, our results suggest that in addition to
promoting gender egalitarian laws and policies, it is also important
for policy-makers to enact interventions to reduce men’s ZSGBs
given the correlation between ZSGBs and several deleterious
psychosocial outcomes, such as psychological distress. Such in-
terventions may include media campaigns and psychoeducational
programs that seek to help men view women’s rights not as a
zero-sum game but as a win-win situation that unleashes the
potential of men and women and that benefits society as a whole.
Increased gender equality and the advancement of women’s rights
have been shown to be associated with economic growth (Inglehart
& Norris, 2003) as well as greater success at winning Olympic
medals for male and female athletes (Berdahl, Uhlmann, & Bai,
2015). Researchers have also demonstrated that increased gender
equality on a national scale may be linked with improved
population-wide physical and mental health outcomes (Singh,
Bloom, & Brodish, 2015;Van de Velde, Huijts, Bracke, & Bam-
bra, 2013). Such research findings can be presented to explain the
benefits of gender equality. Finally, several practical implications
can be gleaned from our findings that higher educational attain-
ment and childhood exposure to male role models who participated
in household chores were inversely related to men’s ZSGBs. On
the basis of these findings, we tentatively suggest that increasing
boys’ and men’s level of education and exposing them to gender
egalitarian male role models may contribute to the development of
gender egalitarian beliefs. Individual practitioners or organizations
striving to improve family systems and gender equality might
incorporate these findings into their therapy or interventions, urg-
ing fathers or other male leaders to serve as gender egalitarian role
models for youth in their communities.
Conclusions
To summarize, ZSGBs are beliefs that the advancement of a
gender outgroup’s rights (e.g., women’s rights) would result in
losses for one’s gender ingroup (e.g., men’s rights). On the basis of
a sample of Croatian and Chilean men, our study provides the first
set of evidence that men’s ZSGBs may be harmful to their mental
health. We also identified men’s romantic relationship satisfaction
as a mediator of the link between men’s ZSGBs and psychological
distress. Overall, our findings draw attention to the damaging
nature of men’s ZSGBs. Our overarching recommendation is for
gender equality programs to include interventions to reduce men’s
ZSGBs, especially in places where much-needed women’s rights
policies are becoming more common. The belief that gender equal-
ity and women’s rights present win-win opportunities rather than a
zero-sum game ultimately contributes to the betterment of women
and men and unleashes a society’s full potential.
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Received September 21, 2015
Revision received November 23, 2015
Accepted January 5, 2016 䡲
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