Culturally Responsive, Gender-Adapted Counseling Approach With Mexican American Men

Abstract

The construct of machismo has been useful for understanding masculinity and the negative health-related outcomes associated with adherence to it among Mexican and Mexican American men. Machismo, as a sociocultural construct, is theorized to represent the negative aspects of masculinity, and as a result, omits the positive dimensions of masculinity. Researchers have discovered that machismo is, in fact, bidimensional, containing two separate constructs which represent both the positive and negative aspects of masculinity. This chapter will survey the research literature regarding machismo and Caballerismo, an assessment developed to measure these constructs, and implications for culturally responsive counseling practice of Mexican American men in the United States.