Millions of men in the US experience substance abuse and impulse control disorders, which is well researched. Far fewer scholars have studied the millions of men that also experience depression (which is traditionally associated with women). Drawing upon literature on fragile masculinity and masculinity threat, we evaluate the role of endorsing hegemonic masculinity ideals (e.g., men should be strong, unemotional, and financially secure) in both internalizing (depression) and externalizing (anger) mental health problems, focusing on older White men aged 70–74 in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey (N = 1,794). In addition to predicting mental health among older men according to their agreement with hegemonic masculinity ideals, we examine the impact of two potential threats to masculinity: health and wealth decline. We find that endorsement of hegemonic masculinity ideals is positively associated with externalizing and internalizing symptoms and that the association between hegemonic masculinity ideals and depressive symptoms is even stronger for men who perceive their health to be declining and those who have lost wealth. We conclude that endorsement of rigid hegemonic masculinity ideals negatively impacts older men’s mental health, especially when they experience challenges to their self-perception as strong, independent, and self-reliant. We provide suggestions as to how improving our understanding of the association between masculinity beliefs and mental health can inform clinical practice as well as public health and public policy.

美国有数百万男性经历过药物滥用和冲动控制障碍，对此进行了充分研究。很少有学者研究过数百万同样患有抑郁症（传统上与女性有关）的男性。借鉴关于脆弱男子气概和男子气概威胁的文献，我们评估了支持霸权男子气概理想（例如，男人应该坚强、不情绪化和经济安全）在内化（抑郁）和外化（愤怒）心理健康问题中的作用，重点是威斯康星州纵向调查中 70-74 岁的老年白人男性（N = 1,794)。除了根据老年男性对霸权男性气质理想的认同来预测他们的心理健康之外，我们还研究了对男性气质的两种潜在威胁的影响：健康和财富下降。我们发现，对霸权男子气概理想的认可与外化和内化症状呈正相关，对于认为自己的健康正在下降和失去财富的人来说，霸权男子气概与抑郁症状之间的关联更加强烈。我们得出的结论是，对僵化的霸权男性气质理想的认可会对老年男性的心理健康产生负面影响，尤其是当他们的自我认知受到挑战时，他们认为自己强大、独立和自力更生。