Men are LESS likely to wear face masks than women because they see them as ‘not cool’ and ‘a sign of weakness’ and believe they are unlikely to catch the coronavirus, study shows
- Researchers conducted a survey of nearly 2,500 adults who are living in the US
- Participants were asked about their feelings towards masks and their usage
- Men were more likely be put off of wearing masks by the perceived stigma
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Men are less likely to wear face masks than women because they are seen as ‘not cool’ and ‘a sign of weakness’, a study has found.
As lockdowns around the world are eased, many governments are recommending that citizens don face coverings when outside to control the spread of COVID-19.
Experts surveyed nearly 2,500 US adults, finding that men were more likely to see face masks as being ‘shameful’ and be put off by the perceived stigma.
Furthermore, 8 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women said that they would definitely not be wearing a face mask when outside of their homes.
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Men are less likely than women to wear face masks — because they are seen as being ‘not cool’ and ‘a sign of weakness’, a study has found
‘Our results found that men have less intentions to wear a face covering than women, particularly in counties where face covering is not mandatory,’ said paper author and economist Valerio Capraro of Middlesex University.
‘The fact that men are less inclined to wear a face covering can be partly explained by the fact that men are more likely to believe that they will be relatively unaffected by the disease compared to women.
‘This is particularly ironic because official statistics show that actually coronavirus impacts men more seriously than women.
‘Our results also revealed that men are more likely to express negative emotions and stigma when wearing a face covering mask.’
In their study, Dr Capraro and mathematician Hélène Barcelo of the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley surveyed 2,459 US adults — including 1,266 men, 1,183 women and ten individuals who did not disclose their gender.
Respondents were asked to rate — on a scale of zero to ten — how likely they were to wear a face masks when outside of the home, engaging in social activities and interacting with people from other households.
Participants were also asked how they felt about wearing a mask — and whether they found it cool, not cool, shameful or a sign of weakness.
The survey also asked people to report their location and whether whether they face masks were mandatory there, or whether so-called ‘shelter-in-place’ rules applied.
As lockdowns around the world are eased, many governments are recommending that citizens don face coverings when outside to control the spread of COVID-19
The researchers found that more men than women (187 compared to 136) said that they were unlikely to wear face masks when outside of the home — with 99 men and only 58 women saying that they would definitely not wear a mask.
Furthermore, 87 men strongly disagreed with the suggestion that they would ‘wear a mask during essential activities’, compared to only 54 of the women.
Men were also more likely on average to to disagree with the statement ‘wearing a face covering is cool’ and agree with the statements: ‘wearing a face covering is shameful’ and ‘wearing a face covering is sign of weakness’.
However, the researchers also noted that there were less significantly differences between the attitudes of men and women towards face masks in counties where wearing one is currently mandatory.
Furthermore, both men and women are more likely to choose to wear masks if the laws says that they have to.
A pre-print of the researchers’ article, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, can be read on the PsyArXiv repository.