Masculinidades e Comportamentos Prejudiciais: Intervenções Comportamentais Baseadas nas Terapias de Terceira Onda

Abstract

A cultural practice must be understood within a process of historical and cultural construction. This includes practices associated with gender. The transmission of cultural practices originates from the selection of which behaviors will be reinforced and punished by members of the group. Gender patterns are examples of this. Gender categories are social constructions that describe the behaviors imposed on men and women, established socially and arbitrarily, and controlled by contingencies of reinforcement and punishment. Some behaviors related to patterns of masculinity may be considered harmful and associated with lower levels of mental health higher levels of male mortality. This scenario makes it necessary to develop intervention strategies capable of reversing and mitigating the impacts of these practices. In this context, since behavior is the result of the interaction between the organism and external variables, behavioral therapies are well suited to effectively intervene in harmful behaviors. The discussion proposed here is based on gaps regarding how behavioral clinicians can address the specificities related to masculinity and on the importance of the involvement of behavioral psychotherapy in social issues. The present study investigated, in the behavioral literature, which interventions are used for classes of harmful behavior related to patterns of masculinity. To this end, after analyzing the literature, five categories were created to describe the behaviors identified as related to patterns of masculinity. It was indicated that harmful patterns associated with masculinity are maintained by social contingencies and rule-governed behavior. The interventions described emphasize the modification of verbal control.