Promoting Gender Equality by Supporting Men’s Emotional Flexibility

Progress toward gender equality has slowed or stalled in recent years, primarily because gender stereotypes and roles are changing more quickly for women than men. Women are increasingly free to behave more like men, whereas a similar freedom for men (to behave more like women) has been slower to emerge. Expectations governing men remain rigid: They are discouraged from showing weakness/vulnerability and encouraged to assert masculinity by demonstrating strength/toughness. These expectations undermine men’s emotional flexibility, which not only harms their physical health and well-being but also systematically impedes gender equality efforts. We summarize both the direct and indirect consequences of men’s relative emotional inflexibility, as well as cultural and psychological barriers to men’s emotional flexibility development. We then provide empirically based policy recommendations for cultivating emotional flexibility in men, which could in turn foster their physical and mental health, undermine traditional gender stereotypes, and promote broader gender equality in the United States.

Emotional Flexibility, Biomarkers, and Cognitive Resilience in Latino Adults at Midlife

A growing body of evidence underscores the important role of emotional responding and emotional flexibility in healthy adaptation. Considerable research further demonstrates that being flexible in how one copes and regulates emotions when faced with stressful events is paramount for healthy aging. However, the adaptive benefits of emotional flexibility have not been studied in Latina/o’s, despite converging evidence indicating that Latina/o’s report greater symptoms of depression and anxiety in the context of exposure to potentially traumatic events and stress. We demonstrate across two studies, how the ability to regulate emotional responses is associated with cognitive health in a community-based population of Latinos and a cohort of Latino responders from the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Furthermore, given that individual differences in emotional flexibility predict cognitive decline, we present data examining the utility of plasma biomarkers of pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease and neuropathy as diagnostic screeners of cognitive functioning and health.