This study investigated the interpersonal communication rules within a gay community concerning the topic being a homosexual. Though the study attempted to extract rules, its primary emphasis was to describe the factors that affect rule development. To that end, the study did the following: (1) It attempted to discover rules individuals have about what can be said, under what circumstances, and to whom; (2) It examined different labels denoting homosexuality and determined when they may be used and how individuals respond to them; (3) It investigated the information sources and communication networks of the members of a gay community; and (4) It examined the sex differences in communication practices in a gay community. / A structured and open-ended questionnaire was administered by ten interviewers to 108 respondents (fifty-five males and fifty-three females) in the Pittsburgh area. The sample was generated through the snowball technique which uses relational networks. Open-ended questions were content analyzed by four coders using techniques developed for this study. Measures were taken to support intercoder reliability, over time reliability of respondent's answers, and the validity of the content analysis techniques. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to check the results of the directional hypotheses and research questions. / The results of the study demonstrated the difficulty of predicting the content of interpersonal rules. Whether or not the receiver was gay was not crucial for the rules of self-disclosure. Neither was mutual self-disclosure a prerequisite for self-disclosure of homosexuality. The use of code words was not important in the recognition of another gay person. The most important factor for determining the receivers of self-disclosure was whether the receiver was empathetic to various lifestyles including homosexuality. Respondents had little difficulty stating their rules of taboo communication. / There was weak support for the relationship between extent of relational networks and the restrictiveness of rules of taboo communication. This relationship was stronger for females than for males. There was strong support for the relationship between "coming out" as a homosexual and information provided by the mass media. Twenty-two percent of the sample had come out having received information only from the mass media. There appeared to be a stronger relationship for males between information provided by the mass media and the structure of taboo communication rules. / Females tended more toward interlocking networks than males. Males spent more time and got more information from diverse groups than did females. Females were more comfortable with gay males than straight males, while gay males saw little difference between gay and straight females. / Gay people responded more negatively to labels when used by straight people than to gay people using the same labels. Gay males and gay females perceived some terms differently. This was especially true for words that apply to females, as "dyke" and "lesbian." Most respondents preferred the word "gay" to "homosexual" and considered it a more positive term. Both males and females relied on prevalent stereotypes for recognition of another gay person. / Before coming out, males were dependent upon mass media sources for information, while females were more dependent upon interpersonal sources. After coming out, both groups tended to rely upon same sex gay friends for information. The major stated factor in coming out for males was assertion of self. The major stated factor in coming out for females was the influence of others. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 1239. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74131 |
| Contributors | CORNELIUS, DAVID LEE., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 212 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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