Heterosexual male’s attitudes and experiences of help seeking for dating violence

Abstract

The present study sought to understand the degree to which conformity to masculine norms influenced heterosexual males (a) attitudes towards psychological help seeking in general, (b) attitudes towards physical common couple violence, (c) attitudes towards romantic relational aggression, (d) perceptions of masculinity for males who seek help for dating violence (physical and relational) and (e) help seeking experiences for those that have experienced some form of physical or relational victimization. The study focused on heterosexual male victims of physical common couple violence and romantic relational aggression because they are typically neglected in the mainstream culture. The findings of the present study suggests there is evidence that greater importance of conformity to masculine norms is related to (a) negative attitudes towards psychological help seeking (b) more accepting attitudes of intimate partner violence and (c) more tolerant attitudes towards romantic relational aggression. In addition to these findings, it was also found that males who have experienced some form of romantic relational victimization (a) were more likely to report more accepting attitudes towards romantic relational aggression, (b) and did not seek any form of help, were more likely to report higher levels of emotional control and risk-taking behaviors. The present results suggest more conformity to masculine norms is an important variable that should continue to be explored in help seeking and dating violence literature.