ORIGINAL ARTICLE Culture, Masculinity, and Psychological Well-being in Punjab, India Jennifer Young Yim & Ramaswami Mahalingam Published online: 1 December 2006 # Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006 Abstract This study was designed to examine the relation- ship between internalized idealized cultural beliefs (machis- mo, chastity, and caste identity) and psychological well-being (life satisfaction and anxiety) in a male surplus population. The study was conducted using questionnaires in a commu- nity sample of Jat caste persons in Punjab, India (N =398). Overall, the correlation between machismo, chastity, and caste beliefs were significant. Men scored significantly higher than women on beliefs about machismo, chastity, and caste identity. For men, divine beliefs about chastity predicted higher life satisfaction, and prescriptive beliefs about chastity practices predicted lower life satisfaction. For women, machismo predicted lower anxiety. The importance of cultural ecological context in the production of masculin- ity was highlighted. Keywords Masculinity . Chastity . Caste . Sex ratio . India Theories of masculinity have undergone a number of conceptual shifts throughout the twentieth century (Smiler, 2004). Several social theorists have argued that beliefs about masculinity are embedded and shaped by the specific de- mands of a cultural context and that the meanings associated with masculinity need to be understood by uncovering its relationship to other salient constructs within the context of cultural belief systems (Connell, 1995; Gregg, 2005; Nisbett, 1993). For instance, Nisbett and Cohen (1996) conducted a series of field experiments and ethnographic experimental studies of men from the southern United States and found that they had a low tolerance for insults. Vandello and Cohen (2003) also found that southern men’ s idealization of masculinity norms may be related to a low tolerance for female infidelity. Nisbett (1993) traced the roots of these masculine norms, described as “southern honor,” to the unique ecological conditions of pastoralist herding culture in the historic south. Barring a few exceptions (e.g., Mirandé, 1997; Nisbett & Cohen, 1996), most cultural studies of masculinity have been characterized by ethnographic reports embedded in Eurocen- tric, male-biased perspectives (Gregg, 2005; also see Gutmann, 1997, for a review). In the field of psychology, few empirical studies have taken a cultural perspective to examine how beliefs about masculinity are shaped by the unique demands of a cultural ecological context. In addition, most of the existing research has relied on college student populations. To address this gap in the literature, we used a community sample to investigate whether the endorsement of idealized cultural beliefs about masculinity (machismo), femininity (chastity), and caste identity contributed to psy- chological well-being (life satisfaction and anxiety) in the cultural ecological context of a surplus male population—a result of historical, systemic female neglect—in Punjab, India. The remainder of this paper is organized into three sections. First, we review the inter-related cultural constructs of masculinity, femininity, and caste identity. Second, we describe our study and major findings. Finally, we discuss the implications of our study’ s findings for future studies on the cultural production of masculinity. Psychology of Masculinity Psychological research on masculinity in the US has examined masculinity as a sex role belief system, as a male gender role strain paradigm, and as a gender ideology (for a review see Smiler, 2004). Prior to 1970, masculinity research was largely Sex Roles (2006) 55:715–724 DOI 10.1007/s11199-006-9126-8 J. Y. Yim Department of Women’ s Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA J. Y. Yim : R. Mahalingam (*) Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043, USA e-mail: ramawasi@umich.edu