Exploring hypermasculinity as a moderator between sexual violence victimization and adverse mental health effects among sentenced incarcerated men.

Sexual assault is a common occurrence among incarcerated men in correctional facilities, and severely impacts the psychological well-being of the victim. We explored hypermasculinity as a moderator between sexual violence (SV) victimization and consequent mental health outcomes (prototypic and masculine depression, alcohol use and drug use) among incarcerated men in Tshwane, South Africa. A convenience sample of 160 incarcerated men self-completed two questionnaires: Questionnaire 1, completed during their incarceration, included themes such as demographics, incarceration-related characteristics, and involvement in physical fighting, and Questionnaire 2, completed at least two months post their release from incarceration, included themes such as demographics, gang affiliation, hypermasculinity, SV victimization, misuse of substances and/or alcohol, prototypic depression and masculine depression. Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine sample characteristics. Associations between variables were examined with Pearson's correlational analysis while the moderation effect was tested with the SPSS PROCESS macro software. Hypermasculinity had a significant moderation effect on SV victimization and prototypic depression.