Socio-Demographic Predictors of Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians
Author(s): Michael J. Brown, Ernesto Henriquez
Abstract: Americans are becoming increasingly supportive of civil rights for gays and lesbians (Brewer, 2003); however, attitudes toward homosexuality continue to reflect disgust and moral disapproval (e.g. Sherrill & Yung, 2000). Using a path analysis, we examined the predictive value of several socio-demographic characteristics of 320 participants when assessing anti-gay attitudes. As expected, we found several direct and indirect effects for participants' gender, experience with homosexuals, race, religion, religiosity, political leaning, and gender role beliefs on attitudes towards gays and lesbians. Implications and limitations of our results are discussed.
Pages: 193-202
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