title: Gender roles, suicidal ideation, and self-harming in young adults.
abstract: This study investigates whether positive and negative conventional gender roles relate to suicidal ideation and self-harming in different ways among young adults. Participants completed an online survey about previous self-harm, recent suicidal ideation, and positive and negative aspects of conventional masculinity and femininity. Logistic regression analyses showed that negative femininity positively predicted self-harm and recent suicidal ideation status. Positive femininity was unrelated. Positive masculinity was negatively related to suicidal ideation and self-harming while negative masculinity was negatively related to self-harming only. The findings suggest that it is not the conventional feminine gender role per se that is associated with suicidality but specific negatively evaluated aspects. Conceptualizing gender as a multivariate construct may be useful in the gender socialization theory of suicidal behavior.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. melanie.straiton@fhi.no
authors.forename: Melanie L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Straiton
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roen
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hjelmeland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012380:Role; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012951:Socialization; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires