Sociocultural determinants of mental health among male sexual trauma survivors

Male sexual trauma survivors are understudied compared to their female counterparts despite having a high risk for mental health difficulties. This study aimed to use structural equation modeling to examine the unique influences of sociocultural factors, specifically masculinity facets and negative social reactions upon disclosing sexual trauma, on internalizing symptoms among male sexual trauma survivors. We hypothesized that self-reliance, emotional control, and negative social reactions would directly predict internalizing symptoms related to posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety and that indirect effects through self-blame would also be significant. We also performed exploratory analyses to examine other facets of masculinity and their associations with internalizing symptoms. Prolific was used to recruit a final sample of 205 cisgender men who experienced sexual trauma. Results indicated that, as predicted, self-blame, negative social reactions to trauma disclosure, and self-reliance were significantly associated with worse internalizing symptoms, βs = .23-.41, p < .001-p = .002; however, contrary to our hypotheses, no direct effects were observed for emotional control. As hypothesized, indirect effects were found such that self-blame partially explained associations between internalizing symptoms and both self-reliance and negative social reactions to sexual trauma disclosure, βs = .05-.06; ps = .021-035. Exploratory analyses of other facets of masculinity revealed that power over women, β = -.31, p = .016, was associated with lower internalizing symptoms, and winning was associated with higher internalizing symptoms, β = .21, p = .015. The findings from this study can be used to inform therapeutic interventions for this vulnerable, understudied population.