Distress disclosure and psychological Distress among men: the role of feeling understood and loneliness

We examined whether men's distress disclosure would be indirectly associated with psychological distress through feeling understood by others and loneliness as serial or parallel mediators. We conducted path analyses (N = 1827 adult men; mean 37.53 years, SD = 14.14) to test the mediators while controlling for race/ethnicity. Post-hoc multi-group analysis was conducted to examine differences across White and Asian men. The serial mediation model fit the data better than the parallel mediation model. Controlling for race/ethnicity, a significant partial indirect association was found between greater distress disclosure and lower psychological distress through greater feelings of being understood and lower feelings of loneliness. Post-hoc multi-group analysis suggested that the hypothesized paths fit equivalently across White and Asian men, and the direct effect was not significant for Asian men. Our hypothesized serial model also fit the data significantly better than alternative models with distress and the mediators predicting disclosure. Distress disclosure may be a socially conducive strategy for men to feel understood and socially connected, a process that may be associated with lower psychological distress.