Previously submitted to: JMIR Mental Health (no longer under consideration since Apr 14, 2025)
Date Submitted: Apr 14, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Masculinity and Men's Mental Health during the Collective Experiences of Home Isolation
ABSTRACT
Background:
Research has demonstrated an association between traditional masculine norms, particularly emotional control and self-reliance, and poorer mental health outcomes and higher suicidality in men. In Hong Kong, the COVID-19 pandemic and socio-political unrest have heightened mental health risks.
Objective:
This study aims to provide a cross-sectional overview of the mental well-being of male adults in Hong Kong during the collective experiences of home isolation and investigate the association between masculinity, physical competence, and suicidality.
Methods:
An anonymized cross-sectional online survey was used to collect data from 204 male internet users aged between 18 and 39 years through LIHKG, a multi-category forum website based in Hong Kong.
Results:
The findings revealed a significant rate of suicidality that was correlated with increased hopelessness and psychological distress, as well as lower self-perceived physical competence. Social support served as a protective factor. The masculine trait of self-reliance was positively correlated with suicidality.
Conclusions:
These findings contribute to the literature on men’s health, emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding of the impact of masculinity thereupon and highlighting the importance of addressing these dynamics with therapeutic interventions.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.