A study from the University of Oregon examines the possible stereotypical link between sleep habits and masculinity, aiming to understand why men, on average, reportedly get less sleep than women.
The research was conducted by Nathan B. Warren, Marketing Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business, and Troy H. Campbell, assistant professor of marketing at the same college. The results of their study are published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.
Lack of Sleep Among Americans Worse For Men
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, the average American adult does not meet this requirement, and almost half of them report experiencing adverse effects from lack of sleep.
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To begin the study, the researchers conducted a total of twelve experiments among 2,564 participants in an attempt to demonstrate if sleep deprivation exists as a part of a masculine stereotype.
One experiment involved asking the participants to visualize a man shopping for a bed. A salesperson asked the man how much he usually sleeps. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a "lots of sleep condition," where the man responds that he gets a lot of sleep, and the "little sleep condition," where the bed shopper replies that he does not get a lot of sleep - then they rated how masculine they think the man is.
The results revealed that the mean masculinity rating for participants in the "lots of sleep condition" was significantly lower compared to the mean masculinity rating from participants in the "little sleep condition."
Another experiment saw the participants assigned to a masculine condition, describing a "very masculine and manly" character. Others were assigned to a not masculine condition and asked to ascribe attributes to a "not very masculine and not very manly" man. The experiment involved participants giving a name to the character before responding to a twelve-question survey involving the man's habits and behaviors.
Participants in the masculine section described their characters to be sleeping 33 minutes less, on average, compared to the characters in the not masculine section.
A Toxic Cycle of Pursuing Masculine Identities
Collectively, the experiments illustrated that men who sleep less appear to be more masculine, expecting a more positive reception from society. These apparent trends among men were not consistently observed for the perception of women.
"The social nature of the sleep-deprived masculinity stereotype positively reinforces males who sleep less, even though sleeping less contributes to significant mental and physical health problems," the authors described. They also noted that this might be particularly more detrimental, given the fact that men have more negative attitudes toward psychological help.
Additionally, looking more into the matter might reveal a "toxic cycle," with men sleeping less to appear "more masculine," thus putting themselves more at risk of mental health issues and actively avoiding professional help.
RELATED: Men With More Stereotypical Masculine Views Are More Likely to Suffer Mental Illness
Researchers, however, expressed hope that as society continues to change and challenge the traditional masculine image, general attitudes toward sleep might be more positive, leading to more people enjoying more nights of healthy sleep.
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