Sunday, September 12, 2010

Being a Mama's Boy: Good for Your Health?

Author: Eben Harrell

Publication Name: Time Magazine

Date of Publication: Aug. 27 2010

Summary:
In a recent study at Arizona State University's School of Social and Family Dynamics, being a mama boy maybe good for your health. By interviewing groups of boy the conclusion came to be that as boys grow up they tend act what they think a man should act, hiding their emotions and acting masculine. So if something bad happens they try to handle it themselves instead so asking for help. With all this pressure of 'being a man' suicide rates for boys jumps at the age of 16. Mama's boys tend to skip all of this, as they did not act as tough and were emotionally available. As result they had a better mental health in middle school.

Another cultural influence to young boys discussed by Sharon Lamb, a professor of mental health at the University of Massachusetts is superheroes. From the result of her survey of 674 boy’s superheroes causes boys to be overly masculine. All of this masculinity is because of the growing acceptance of homosexual, which is cause for a wider gap of gender stereotypes. Since people are afraid of being seen as gay act more 'manly'. She also blames today’s superheroes because in the “modern superheroes” found in movie are all action. Today’s superheroes rarely talks about good virtue. She points out Iron Man as a example of a modern superhero and his bad influence. All in all accepting the gender stereotypes is bad for the health, so being a mama's boy is good for the health.

Links to Study: Not founded

Article: www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014038,00.html

Submitted by: Hai Vo

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