Attitudes toward homosexuals in a residential setting

Graduation Date

1997

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Psychology: Academic Research, 1997

Committee Chair Name

Lou Ann Wieand

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Psychology, Student attitudes, Sex role, Homophobia

Abstract

Living in a college residence hall setting gives many people the opportunity to experience the homosexual community, either through the acknowledgment of their own homosexuality or the acknowledgment of another's homosexuality. The discovery of new sexualities can be an exciting experience for some, but may be an uncomfortable one for others, eliciting a wide range of attitudes toward homosexuals. As living in the residence halls can be a very confining experience, assessing attitudes toward a segment of that population seems relevant. Gender of the respondent, gender of the target homosexual, quality of experiences with homosexuals, and affective responses toward sexually explicit material were all expected to be related with attitudes toward homosexuals. 179 undergraduate students living in the residence halls of a small west coast university were given three surveys: the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale (Herek, 1988), the Short-Form Homosexism scale (Hansen, 1982), and the Revised form of the Sexual Opinion Survey (Fisher, Byrne, White, and Kelley, 1988). In addition, respondents were also asked to give their opinion of the atmosphere in the residence halls toward gay men, lesbian women, and bisexuals, as well as whether or not they themselves knew of any homosexuals or bisexuals, and give a positive to negative rating of the quality of these experiences with homosexuals and bisexuals has been. While there were no significant differences based on sexual orientation in how the residence hall atmosphere for nonheterosexual residents was viewed, gender of respondent and gender of target homosexual were found to correlate with attitudes toward homosexuals. Affective responses toward sexually explicit material and quality of experiences were also found to correlate with attitudes toward homosexuals. Implications for residence hall policy and suggestions for future research are presented along with a discussion of each finding.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/hx11xh44f

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