美国13至17岁男孩约三分之一至少少量关注安德鲁·泰特

一项针对601名男孩的调查

围绕“男性圈”（manosphere）对青少年的影响，此前更多是新闻讨论与定性观察。马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校传播学教授Erica Scharrer与密歇根大学心理学家L. Monique Ward、Brenda L. Volling合作，在美国调查了601名13至17岁男孩，结果发表在《男性与男性气质心理学》。Scharrer对PsyPost说，她注意到关于“男性圈”可能影响青春期男孩的担忧不少，但缺少量化研究，于是组织了这项调查。

参与者通过Qualtrics管理的在线样本库招募，事先取得家长同意和青少年本人同意，由男孩在自己的手机上私下作答。样本在年龄、种族和地区上大致按全国人口比例平衡。研究测量“男性圈”接触用了两种方式：直接询问关注安德鲁·泰特和乔丹·彼得森的频率；以及让男孩写出最喜爱的名人和三位最喜爱的社交媒体人物，再与研究者从新闻和学术来源整理的31人名单比对。

关注与信念的关联

结果显示，约33.2%的男孩表示至少“少量”关注泰特，11.6%关注彼得森。但在开放式问题中，只有约9%写出与“男性圈”相关的人物，多数人写的是主流创作者、音乐人或运动员。作者认为后一比例较低是令人鼓舞的信号。

在未加统计控制时，三种“男性圈”接触指标都与更强的传统男性气质信念相关。例如，把“男性圈”人物列为最喜爱者的男孩，在7点传统男性气质信念量表上平均为4.12，其他男孩为3.39。控制年龄、自我男性气质感知和父母传递的信息后，关注泰特仍在所有传统男性气质指标上是正向预测因素；关注彼得森与男性 toughness、支配性和关系中的男性规范相关，但与反女性气质信念无关，作者推测这可能与彼得森更强调自我提升而非公开反女性有关。

父母传递的“要强壮、强硬”的信息在每个模型中都是最强预测因素，权重大约是关注泰特的两到三倍；关注彼得森的预测力弱于关注泰特。年龄较小的男孩传统信念也更强。这些预测因素合计解释了传统男性气质得分约37%至44%的变异。

不能忽略的边界

Scharrer强调，研究不能证明因果，只能说在样本中关注“男性圈”影响者与狭窄、刻板的男性气质观念同时出现。数据来自单一时点，无法判断是观看内容让男孩接受传统观念，还是本就持传统观念的男孩更倾向寻找这类内容；两种过程也可能同时发生、相互强化。

此外，33%的数字包含只表示“少量”关注泰特的男孩，调查也没有询问关注的原因，有人可能出于好奇或怀疑而观看。研究没有直接测量对女性的敌意或贬低，作者提醒，认同情绪克制、强壮等特质不等于对女性怀有敌意。“男性圈”内部从理财自助到公开反女性，内容差异很大，青少年接触到的信息可能相当不同。通过在线样本库招募也可能带来选择偏差，参与家庭未必代表全部青少年。作者建议后续做追踪同一批男孩的长期研究，并直接测量厌女态度、了解青少年关注这些人的具体原因。

Teenage boys who follow prominent online personalities associated with the “manosphere” are more likely to support traditional beliefs about manhood, such as the idea that men should hide their emotions, remain dominant, and reject anything considered feminine. For the two best-known figures, Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson, this pattern held even after accounting for the gender messages boys hear at home and how masculine they already perceive themselves to be, according to research published in Psychology of Men & Masculinities.

The term “manosphere” describes a loose network of websites, podcasts, and social media accounts focused on male interests, often while framing women or modern feminism as threats to men’s status. Content creators in this digital space, frequently referred to as “manfluencers,” often promote hegemonic masculinity. This concept refers to a culturally idealized form of manhood characterized by power, physical toughness, emotional detachment, and the subordination of femininity.

Earlier research had begun tracking the reach of these online ideas. For instance, a 2024 study that included focus groups with 13- and 14-year-old boys in London found that some were drawn to Andrew Tate, who paired anti-feminist commentary with advice about dating and making money, and some saw him as funny or authentic. Around the same time, a 2024 study of young men in Sweden found that those who followed more manfluencers were more likely to hold dehumanizing views of women. A 2025 Common Sense Media report, which was not peer reviewed, found that boys who saw more masculinity-focused content online tended to hold more traditional views, but it did not ask about specific figures or parental messages.

Despite these insights, little quantitative evidence existed about what leads younger adolescent boys to engage with these figures in the first place, or how this media consumption interacts with the guidance they receive from their families. The new research was led by Erica Scharrer, a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Children, Media, and Technology: Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and co-author of Quantitative Research Methods in Communication: The Power of Numbers for Social Justice. She worked with University of Michigan psychologists L. Monique Ward and Brenda L. Volling to understand the real-world dynamics driving boys toward these online figures.

“Andrew Tate and ‘the manosphere’ had been in the headlines for quite a while,” Scharrer told PsyPost. “I noticed that even though some of the concern expressed in news and popular discourse was about the potential of the manosphere or ‘manfluencers’ to influence adolescent boys, there were no quantitative studies on the topic.”

“I approached L. Monique Ward–who is one of the premier scholars of adolescents, masculinities, and media–to see if she wanted to study the phenomenon with me, and she introduced me to another stellar scholar, Brenda L. Volling, who has deep expertise in gendered dynamics in family contexts,” Scharrer explained. “Together, our team designed and carried out this study. While we were writing our paper (but well after we collected our data), the Netflix show, Adolescence, put the issue of the manosphere and adolescent boys further into the spotlight.”

The 2025 Netflix drama depicts a teenage boy, immersed in manosphere content, who is accused of murdering a female classmate. To explore how real-world adolescents interact with these online communities, the scientists surveyed a diverse group of 601 adolescent boys aged 13 to 17 living across the United States. Participants were recruited through online panels managed by Qualtrics, with parent consent and youth assent obtained before the teens completed the questions privately on their own mobile devices. The sample was balanced across different age groups, racial backgrounds, and geographic regions to roughly match national population proportions.

To measure engagement with the manosphere, the authors took two distinct approaches. First, they directly asked boys how often they followed two prominent online commentators: former kickboxer Andrew Tate, who has been banned from several social media platforms for hate speech, and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. Second, the authors asked participants to write in their favorite celebrity and top three favorite social media stars, later cross-referencing those names against a list of 31 manosphere-linked figures the researchers compiled from news and scholarly sources.

The boys also completed established psychological questionnaires. These included scales assessing traditional masculinity beliefs, which measure the degree to which an individual believes men should avoid showing vulnerability, remain emotionally detached, use physical toughness, and avoid feminine behaviors. Participants also reported the kinds of gender lessons they received from their caregivers, answered how masculine they perceived themselves to be on a 1-to-5 scale, and completed assessments of social support, depressive symptoms, and hostility.

The survey revealed that about 33.2 percent of the boys reported following Andrew Tate at least a little, while 11.6 percent reported following Jordan Peterson. In contrast, when asked open-ended questions about their absolute favorite personalities, only about 9 percent wrote in a figure associated with the manosphere, most commonly naming mainstream creators, musicians, or athletes instead. The authors described it as encouraging that only a small share of participants named a manosphere figure among their favorites.

Boys who expressed an affinity for manosphere personalities reported receiving more messages from their parents encouraging traditional gender expectations and physical toughness. They also rated their own personal masculinity higher compared to their peers. However, they were not statistically different in terms of age, racial background, total weekly time spent watching YouTube, or reported feelings of hostility, depression, or perceived support from family and friends. The authors note that this runs counter to the idea that isolated or distressed boys are the ones who turn to the manosphere.

Before any statistical controls, all three measures of manosphere engagement were linked to stronger traditional masculinity beliefs on every scale. For example, boys who named a manosphere figure as a favorite averaged 4.12 on a 7-point measure of traditional masculinity beliefs, compared with 3.39 for other boys.

When running statistical models that controlled for age, self-perceived masculinity, and parental messages, the authors found that following Andrew Tate remained a positive predictor across every measure of traditional masculinity ideology. Following Jordan Peterson also predicted higher support for male toughness, dominance, and relationship-specific masculinity norms, though it did not predict anti-femininity beliefs. The authors suggest this may reflect Peterson’s emphasis on self-improvement rather than overtly anti-women messaging. Having an affinity for manosphere figures on the open-ended list predicted beliefs favoring physical toughness, but was not related to emotional detachment or anti-femininity after accounting for the other variables.

Parental messages about being big and tough were the strongest predictor in every model, carrying roughly two to three times the weight of following Tate, and following Peterson was a weaker predictor than following Tate. Younger boys also tended to hold more traditional beliefs than older boys. Taken together, the predictors in these models explained roughly 37 to 44 percent of the variation in the boys’ overall traditional masculinity scores.

“Our study cannot show causality, but our data do show that in our sample of teen boys, following manosphere influencers online goes hand in hand with having narrow, stereotypical conceptions of masculinity,” Scharrer noted.

The findings echo that Swedish study, which PsyPost covered in 2025, although it measured misogyny and dehumanization of women among young adult men rather than traditional masculinity beliefs among American teenage boys.

As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. The study relies on survey responses gathered at a single point in time, meaning the scientists cannot determine whether watching these creators causes boys to adopt traditional beliefs, or if boys who already favor traditional roles simply seek out compatible media. It is plausible that both processes occur together, reinforcing one another over time.

Additionally, the authors noted that endorsing masculine traits like emotional stoicism and strength is not the same as expressing outright hostility toward women, an outcome this particular project did not directly evaluate. The researchers also pointed out that online creators within the manosphere vary widely in tone and focus, ranging from financial self-help to overt anti-feminism, meaning adolescent viewers may be reacting to very different messages depending on whom they watch. The survey also recorded whether boys followed these figures but not why, so some may have been watching out of curiosity or skepticism rather than agreement, and the 33 percent figure includes boys who said they followed Tate only “a little.”

Recruiting participants through online survey panels can also introduce selection biases, as families who join these panels may not reflect the entire adolescent population. Looking ahead, the authors recommend long-term studies that track the same boys over time, incorporate direct measures of misogynistic attitudes, and explore the specific reasons why teens choose to follow these online figures.

The study, “Following Manosphere Influencers and Endorsement of Traditional Masculinity Beliefs Among Adolescent Boys,” was authored by Erica Scharrer, L. Monique Ward, and Brenda L. Volling.