The present study investigated the applicability of the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Specifically, the investigation sought to examine individuals' intentions to request or not to request a new, heterosexual roommate given that they have been assigned a gay (or lesbian) roommate. The purpose of the investigation was to test the mediating role of respondents' perceptions of the expectations of important persons in their lives (termed subjective norm) and their attitudes toward the specific behavior of requesting a new roommate (termed attitude toward the act). An alternative to the Ajzen-Fishbein model was tested to determine whether the variables of acquaintance with a member of the target group, sex, and attitude toward the target predict request. Phase One assessed the modal beliefs and the normative beliefs of 98 students in a university population through self-report data gathered in a free response format. Phase Two investigated the relationship between the attitudes and subjective norm of 238 university students and their intention to request a new roommate with a questionnaire format developed from the responses in Phase One. The AjzenFishbein variables mediated the variables of acquaintance with a gay or lesbian, sex of the respondent, and a general attitude toward the target when predicting the request of a heterosexual roommate. / Department of Psychological Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/184077 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Crawford, Anne M. |
| Contributors | Ball State University. Dept. of Psychological Science., Stevenson, Michael R. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vii, 89 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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