Investigacion

Psychology of Men & Masculinity 2012, Vol. 13, No. 3, 283–293

© 2012 American Psychological Association 1524-9220/12/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0025522

The Role of Masculine Norms and Informal Support on Mental Health in Incarcerated Men
Derek Kenji Iwamoto
University of Maryland

Derrick M. Gordon, Arazais Oliveros, M. Arturo Perez-Cabello, and Tamika Brabham
Yale University

A. StephenLanza
Family Reentry

William Dyson
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Mental health problems in general and major depression in particular are prevalent among incarcerated men. Of state inmates, 23% are estimated to experience symptoms of major depression. Despite the high rates of depressive symptoms, the psychosocial factors that are associated with depressive and anxietysymptoms of incarcerated men are little understood. One factor relevant to the mental health of incarcerated men is their adherence to traditional masculine norms. We investigated the role of masculine norms and informal support on depressive and anxiety symptoms among 123 incarcerated men. The results revealed that adherence to the masculine norm of emotional control was negatively associatedwith depressive symptoms, whereas heterosexual presentation and informal support were related to both depressive and anxiety symptoms. High levels of reported informal support moderated the effects of heterosexual presentation on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Public health and clinical implications are discussed. Keywords: incarcerated men, masculine norms, mental health, informal supportAccording to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2009), the United States has more than 1.6 million sentenced prisoners. Given the large number of incarcerated individuals, there is a great need for rehabilitation programs, specifically, mental health services (Pomeroy, Kiam, & Green, 2000). The call for rehabilitative mental health services rests on the observation that nearly half of incarcerated menhave reported a recent history of mental health problems (U.S.

Department of Justice, 2011). According to the U.S. Department of Justice (2006), of the 705,600 state prisoners who reported mental health problems in 2005, 23% reported experiencing major depressive symptoms. Despite the high prevalence of mental health problems reported by incarcerated men, little is known about the psychosocialmechanisms associated with the expression of depressive and anxiety symptoms (Draine, Wilson, & Pogorzelski,

This article was published Online First March 19, 2012. Derek Kenji Iwamoto, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland; Derrick M. Gordon, Arazais Oliveros, M. Arturo Perez-Cabello, and Tamika Brabham, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University; A. Stephen Lanza, Family Reentry,Bridgeport, Connecticut; William Dyson, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Bridgeport, Connecticut. William Dyson is now with Central Connecticut State University. Funding for this project was provided in part by Connecticut’s Court Support Services Division, Judicial Branch; Family Reentry, Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction 283Services. Manuscript preparation for Derek Kenji Iwamoto was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse Grants 5T32 019426 – 06 and RO1-DA018730. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Connecticut’s Court Support Services Division, Judicial Branch; Family Reentry, Bridgeport CT;Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Connecticut; and the National Institutes of Health. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Derek Iwamoto, 2103L Cole Field House, College Park, MD 20742. E-mail: derek.iwamoto@gmail .com

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2007; Kupers, 2001). In addition to the public health benefits of addressing mental health concerns with this...