Conformity to Norms

Social norms can be conceptualized as unwritten rules and standards that drive social behavior through mechanisms of social reinforcement or punishment (Cialdini & Trost, 1999). Similarly, gender norms provide even more specific guidance (and constraint) to men and women in regard to how they are supposed to act, think, and feel (Mahalik et al., 2005a). The process of gender role socialization utilizes social norms, values, and ideologies to teach attitudes and behaviors about what it means to be a man or a woman in society (Addis & Mahalik, 2003). Past research has focused on how conformity to societal gender norms con- strains and influences men’s behavior. A higher emphasis placed on conforming to masculine norms has been linked to more health risk behaviors and fewer health promotion behaviors (Mahalik, Levi-Minzi, & Walker, 2007); binge drinking (Liu & Iwamoto, 2007); and greater endorsement of rape myths and more sexually aggressive behavior, particularly when combined with problematic alcohol use (Locke & Mahalik, 2005). Just as men experience difficulty in attempting to conform to traditional gender norms, so too do women. Women experience societal pressure to conform to norms that dictate appropriate standards for femininity (Mahalik et al., 2005a). Emerging research indicates that higher conformity to feminine norms is related to disordered eating symptomatology (Green, Davis, Skaggs, Riopel, & Hal- lengren, 2008) and pathology (Mahalik et al., 2005a). In sum, research suggests that conformity to gender norms can have deleterious effects for both men and women.