Prospective Students

Dr. McDermott usually accepts one new doctoral student a year as part of the APA-accredited Clinical/Counseling Psychology (CCP) program at the University of South Alabama (though at times he has accepted two students or none). Successful applicants historically have had strong research and clinical experiences. Team members may have a variety of career paths that can be tailored to individual needs, including: academic, clinical, and administrative career trajectories. Prospective students who would likely do well in the lab should have research/clinical interests within at least one or more of the following areas:

• College Student Mental Health 

  • Anxiety/Depression within college student populations

  • Intimate partner violence, sexual aggression, adult attachment issues

  • Gun violence on college campuses

  • Clinical work in college counseling settings

• ***Psychology of Men and Masculinities*** (this has historically been the main focus of Dr. McDermott's work)

  • Gender role norms 

  • Problems with conformity to masculine norms

  • Women's beliefs about men

  • Masculinity across cultures and within underrepresented groups in psychology (e.g., race, sexual orientation)

  • Measurement of masculinity-related variables

  • Potentially positive aspects of masculinity

• Positive Psychology

  • Hope

  • Encouragement 

  • Self-Compassion

  • Other positive psychological individual difference variables (e.g., grit, courage, gratitude)

• Multicultural Psychology

  • Racial/ethnic minority mental health disparities 

  • Protective factors/barriers 

  • LGBTQ mental health

  • Identity-related factors to minority mental health

Students in the undergraduate and master's programs at USA are also encouraged to join the lab to gain competitive experience before applying for doctoral work. 

Interested students are encouraged to contact Dr. McDermott directly at rmcdermott@southalabama.edu.

The Culture and Individual Differences (CID) Research Team studies how cultural expectations about gender—particularly masculinity—shape people's identities, relationships, health, and behavior. Much of our current work examines not only the consequences of traditional and restrictive masculinity ideologies, but also the processes through which people develop greater flexibility in how they understand and enact gender.

Our current projects include:

• Gender Role Journey and Gender Role Transcendence. We are studying how people's relationships with gender roles change over time, including movement from relatively rigid or traditional gender-role beliefs toward greater flexibility and gender role transcendence. Current and planned studies examine who is most likely to transcend traditional gender roles, what psychological and social factors facilitate this process, and how these differences relate to important outcomes.

• Precarious Manhood and Resistance to Masculinity Threats. Rather than focusing only on men who respond negatively when their masculinity is threatened, we are interested in the men who do not. This work asks what distinguishes men who appear relatively resistant to masculinity threats and whether those differences can help us better understand healthier and more flexible ways of relating to masculinity.

• Promoting Gender Role Flexibility. A developing line of experimental research examines whether interventions can reduce men's vulnerability to masculinity threats. In particular, we are comparing approaches that reconstruct masculinity—for example, reframing vulnerability as courageous and masculine—with approaches that deconstruct restrictive gender expectations by helping men critically examine and move beyond them.

• Benevolent Masculinity. We are developing and validating a measure of Benevolent Masculinity Ideology, examining beliefs about masculinity that emphasize men's positive, prosocial, and relational roles. This work considers how benevolent masculinity relates to both traditional masculinity ideologies and broader attitudes toward men and gender.

• Individual Differences in Masculinity and Gender Role Strain. Using both variable-centered and person-centered quantitative approaches, we examine why traditional masculinity ideologies and gender role strain are associated with problematic outcomes for some men more strongly than others. This work includes identifying distinct subgroups or profiles of men whose experiences of masculinity may differ in meaningful ways.

• Masculinity, Health, and Social Problems. Additional projects examine the implications of masculinity for health and broader social issues. Current work includes research on masculinity and gun violence, masculine norms and health-related attitudes and behaviors, and the continued evaluation and refinement of commonly used measures of masculinity.

Representative Publications.

For a full list of Dr. McDermott's work, please see his Google Scholar page or his C.V. Below is a subset of publications covering masculinity, cultural factors, positive individual difference variables, and other domains addressed by the CID. 

Brasil, K. M., McDermott, R. C., & Jenkins, D. L. (2026). Masculinity and depressive symptoms among rural and urban men. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 27(1), 50–59. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000529 

McDermott, R. C., Jenkins, D. L., & Brasil, K. M. (2026). Understanding the men behind the variables: Person-centered analyses and the psychology of men and masculinities. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000548 

McDermott, R. C., Pietrantonio, K. R., Browning, B. R., McKelvey, D. K., Jones, Z. K., Booth, N. R., & Sevig, T. D. (2019). In search of positive masculine role norms: Testing the positive psychology positive masculinity paradigm. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 20(1), 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000160 

Kang, J., Wong, Y. J., Brasil, K. M., McDermott, R. C., & Yan, Y. (2026). Development of the White Innocence Legitimizing Beliefs Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 73(2), 184–199. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000833 

Jenkins, D. L., McDermott, R. C., & Levant, R. F. (2025). Adhering, rejecting, and conflicting: A latent profile analysis of emerging adult men’s traditional masculinity ideology and gender role conflict. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 26(3), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000515 

Wong, Y. J., Li, P. F. J., Cheng, H.-L., & McDermott, R. C. (2025). The Anatomy of Encouragement: Addressing the What, Why, When, Who, and For Whom of Encouragement Messages. Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion, 6(4), 560-590.