Attributions that point to sexual orientation being involuntary tend to be associated with more favorable attitudes toward homosexuals (Herek & Capitanio, 1995). Aside from attributions, those with more contact with sexual minorities are likely to have accepting attitudes about bisexuality (Mayfield & Carruba, 1996). Yet, the quality of the contact matters; research indicates that those with poorer qualitative contact have less positive attitudes toward homosexuals (Hodson, Harry, & Mitchell, 2009). Also, those with high religious beliefs are susceptible to beliefs of homosexuality as a choice and have more negative views (Kendra, Christopher, Franzen, & Keyes, 2006; Herek, 2002). While attitudes about homosexuality and bisexuality have been shown to be related, bisexuality is distinct from homosexuality and deserves separate focus (Mohr & Rochlen, 1999). The current study expands past research by examining a variety of factors related to attitudes toward bisexuality, such as perceiving sexual orientation as a choice, religiosity, and amount and quality of contact. Our first hypothesis is that both the perception of sexual orientation as a choice and higher levels of religiosity will relate to more negative attitudes toward bisexuals. Next, both the quantity and quality of contact with sexual minorities will predict attitudes such that less contact and less quality contact will be related to more negative attitudes toward bisexuals. We collected data from 1725 (67.2% female) individuals through participation in an online survey. Results indicate negative attitudes towards bisexuality are significantly related to the perception of sexual orientation as a choice (r = .499, p < .01) higher levels of religiosity (r = .515, p < .01) and lower levels of contact with sexual minorities (r = -.547; p < .01) and quality of contact (r = -.617; p< .01). These findings and comparisons of these relations by self-identified sexual orientation will be presented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-9358 |
| Date | 22 June 2012 |
| Creators | Hutsell, David W., Chandler, Sheri L., Lund, Brittany K., Williams, Stacey L. |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | ETSU Faculty Works |
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