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Experimentally testing the impact of status threat on heterosexual men’s use of anti-gay slurs: A precarious manhood and coalitional value perspective

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Abstract

The current study proposes an extension of theory and research on the effect of status threat specific to heterosexual men’s anti-gay slurs usage. Drawing on both the Precarious Manhood Thesis and the Coalitional Value Theory, the current study investigates whether masculine personality traits moderate the association between status threat and men’s readiness to use anti-gay slurs. A sample of heterosexual male university students (N = 139) was recruited from two English-speaking universities in Montreal, Quebec, and Houston, Texas. Participants completed questionnaires and randomly received either status threatening or status confirming feedback. Next, after reading vignettes describing heterosexual men behaving in ways that might jeopardize their status, participants reported their estimated probability of calling the target character a “fag” or “faggot.” Findings revealed a significant interaction effect. That is, only among participants high in masculine personality traits, those in the threat condition indicated significantly greater readiness to use anti-gay slurs relative to those in the status affirmation group. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of men’s anti-gay slur usage grounded in a status striving motive paired with distinct personality features. Future research directions are discussed.

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Data Availability

The dataset that supports the findings of the current study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. Although previous studies have used the term masculinity threat, this study considers the threat involved in masculinity threat as principally fixed in social status due, in part, to Buss et al.’s (2020) finding that acting masculine (or feminine) has robust cross-cultural sex-differentiated status consequences.

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Funding

The present study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Tyler L. Brown

  2. Department of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Nathan Grant Smith

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  1. Tyler L. Brown
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Correspondence to Tyler L. Brown.

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Approval was obtained from the ethics committees of McGill University and University of Houston.

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Brown, T.L., Smith, N.G. Experimentally testing the impact of status threat on heterosexual men’s use of anti-gay slurs: A precarious manhood and coalitional value perspective. Curr Psychol 42, 11891–11901 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02489-7

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