Effects of sex role attitudes and similarity on men's rejection of male homosexuals.

Investigated 120 male undergraduates' reactions to homosexuals. Ss preselected on the basis of their profeminist, moderate, or antifeminist scores on the Attitude Toward Feminism Scale were assigned at random to 1 of 4 experimental conditions. Using a standard attraction paradigm design, Ss rated a bogus "partner," who was represented as either homosexual or heterosexual and as having attitudes either similar or dissimilar to theirs. Consistent with prediction, similar partners were liked more than dissimilar partners, and heterosexual partners were liked more than homosexuals. Homosexuals were seen as more dissimilar to the Ss in all conditions. Liberals were more accepting of homosexuals and dissimilar partners than were traditionals. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between sex role attitudes and tolerance of dissimilarity. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal constructs and homosexual stress.

Evaluated a personal-construct approach to the assessment of the potential for homosexual threat (homosexual stress). The measure, modified from personal construct research on death threat, was tested with 20 male and 20 female undergraduates. Those Ss who were more stressed by homosexuality had more negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Further, those Ss with the most negative attitudes toward homosexuals were those who saw homosexuality as invalidating more important constructs. Males who viewed homosexuality as more stressful tended to construe homosexuality as a more personally meaningful issue; females showed the opposite tendency. The homosexual stress measure was independent of authoritarianism (California F Scale) and was not highly related to Religious Fundamentalism Scale scores. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homosexual parents

Does the homosexuality of parents affect the sexual orientation or experiences of their children? Seventeen of 5,182 randomly obtained adults from six U.S. cities answered questionnaires indicating that they had a homosexual parent. Parental homosexuality may be related to findings that: (1) 5 of the 17 reported sexual relations with their parents; (2) a disproportionate fraction reported sexual relations with other caretakers and relatives; and (3) a disproportionate fraction: (a) claimed a less than exclusively heterosexual orientation (47%); (b) indicated gender dissatisfaction; and (c) reported that their first sexual experience was homosexual. Of 1,388 consecutive obituaries in a major homosexual newspaper, 87 of the gays who died had children and registered a median age of death of 47 (the 1,267 without children had a median age of death of 38); 10 lesbians did and 24 did not have children. We estimate that less than 1% of parents are bisexual or homosexual and that < 7% of gays and about a third of lesbians are parents.     

Assessment of fairness in child custody decisions

Court-appointed child advocates, attorneys, guardians ad litem, and therapists were asked to rate preferred traits for mothers and fathers, and to make custody decisions and abuse likelihood ratings for children in one of two vignettes that varied only as to whether mother or father was described as incompetent to parent without threat of further abuse. Results revealed that this sample of professionals did not hold double standards with respect to attributes important for mothers versus fathers. To the contrary, interpersonal sensitivity traits, traditionally identified as most prevalent among women, were valued equally in mothers and fathers and preferred for both parents to interpersonal potency, traditionally ascribed more readily to men. Further, decisions about custody and placement or abuse likelihood were not affected by any sex-role stereotypes professionals held about parents, nor by professionals' gender or specific occupation. The only factor that affected custody judgments and abuse likelihood ratings was the competence of the parent in question. These findings suggest that biases with regard to gender to gender or traditional sex-role preferences for parents are disappearing among professionals who make important placement decisions in the lives of abused children. Future studies must assess whether these theoretical findings translate into actual behavior in real-life abuse cases for the professional groups represented in this sample.     

Homophobia and physical aggression toward homosexual and heterosexual individuals.

This study examined the relationship between homophobia (defined as self-reported negative affect, avoidance, and aggression toward homosexuals) and homosexual aggression. Self-identified heterosexual college men were assigned to homophobic (n?=?26) and nonhomophobic (n?=?26) groups on the basis of their scores on the Homophobia Scale (HS; L. W. Wright, H. E. Adams, & J. A. Bernat, 1999). Physical aggression was examined by having participants administer shocks to a fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction time (RT) task under the impression that the study was examining the relationship between sexually explicit material and RT. Participants were exposed to a male homosexual erotic videotape, their affective reactions were assessed, and they then competed in the RT task against either a heterosexual or a homosexual opponent. The homophobic group reported significantly more negative affect, anxiety, and anger-hostility after watching the homosexual erotic videotape than did the nonhomophobic group. Additionally, the homophobic group was significantly more aggressive toward the homosexual opponent, but the groups did not differ in aggression toward the heterosexual opponent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Freudian construction of sexuality: the gay foundations of heterosexuality and straight homophobia

In developing his theory of male sexual preference, Freud asserted that heterosexual as well as homosexual preferences required explanation, that neither could be assumed to be innate. His theory of the oedipal complex, however, held that the heterosexual outcome was the "normal" resolution, while the homosexual outcome represented arrested sexual development. In the normal resolution the boy identifies as a male with the father, gives up the mother as a love object, and later substitutes another woman of his choice for the mother. The author of the following article, following the theorizing of Laplanche, claims that there is an unavoidable homosexual component or residue in the heterosexual resolution which is implicit in Freudian theory. In the resolution of the complex the boy has the choice of both parents as love objects or as persons with whom to identify. In the heterosexual resolution the boy identifies with the father as a rival for the mother's affection. But love and identification are not entirely discrete processes. The identification with the father involves love for the father. The heterosexual resolution of the oedipal conflict is bought at the price of the homosexual resolution which, however, is not completely surrendered. The homophobia of heterosexual males, the author asserts, is the result of the remnants of homosexuality in the heterosexual resolution of the oedipal conflict.     

Psychosocial adjustment of adolescent children of a depressed, arthritic, or normal parent.

Examined the joint effects of having a parent with a psychological or physical disability and stressful life events on the mental health of 3 groups of adolescents: 16 adolescent children of a depressed parent, 16 adolescent children of a parent with rheumatoid arthritis, and 16 adolescent children of parents free from psychological or physical disability. Ss were asked to complete a battery of assessments, including the SCL-90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Family Environment Scale, and scales assessing life events and satisfaction with school. It was found that, in contrast to the normal group, Ss with arthritic parents reported lower self-esteem, whereas Ss with depressed parents reported lower self-esteem and more symptomatology. However, the 2 risk groups did not differ in terms of mental health or family and school adjustment. Both negative and positive life events were strongly related to poorer adjustment, but only for Ss with depressed and arthritic parents. There was a significant interaction effect of parental disability (depressed vs normal) and negative life events on symptomatology, with the Ss with depressed parents who experienced few negative life events reporting symptom levels equivalent to that of the normal group. Within-group analyses revealed that a positive familial social climate was related to better adjustment among all 3 groups: satisfactory school involvements were related to better adjustment among the depressed-parent and normal groups. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender dysphoria, gender reorientation, and the clinical management of transsexualism.

Conducted 2 studies of gender dysphoria and postoperative adjustment by transsexuals. Study 1 examined the relation of gender reorientation (approximation of the status of the opposite biological sex) to psychological adjustment in gender dysphorics. Three S groups (75 heterosexual males, mean age 36.7 yrs; 85 homosexual males, mean age 29.8 yrs; and 103 biological females, mean age 27.4 yrs) were studied in multiple regression analyses, with psychological symptoms as criteria and measures of 3 roughly sequential components of gender reorientation (role changes, document changes, and physical changes), age, and education as predictors. Psychological complaints correlated negatively with the earliest phase of reorientation for females and with the later phases for males. Age and education bore little relation to current symptoms. Results suggest that psychological improvement accompanies gender reorientation in both male and female gender dysphorics; the greatest degree of improvement is seen earlier in the process for females. Ss in Study 2 were postoperative transsexuals (32 homosexual males, mean age 33.2 yrs; 9 heterosexual males, mean age 47.7 yrs; and 38 biological females, mean age 32.6 yrs) at least 1 yr after surgery. Follow-up rate was 77.5% for all Ss meeting the 1-yr criterion. Satisfaction with surgery was high, and psychosocial adjustment was acceptable for the majority. Results of both studies support the rationale for clinical intervention in aid of gender reorientation in selected cases. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some issues in the treatment of gay and lesbian patients.

Contends that issues arise in the psychotherapy of gay and lesbian patients as a function of the societal position of homosexuality in our culture. Society, patients, and therapists have homophobic attitudes that can be modified once they are acknowledged. In addition, homosexuals are largely invisible in society, and most of a therapist's information about them comes from his/her homosexual patients. The therapist may reinforce the patient's own homophobia by inquiring into the causes of the patient's homosexuality or into his/her failure to function heterosexually. Homosexual relationships are thought to be less significant than heterosexual relationships; this attitude adds to the isolation of gay and lesbian people. It is suggested that if an analysis of the gay or lesbian patient's homophobia has been successful, anger will emerge; the anger may proceed quietly or erupt against the source of oppression. It is concluded that when the effects of homophobia are partialed out, few differences remain between homosexuals and heterosexuals. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual orientation differences in cerebral asymmetry and in the performance of sexually dimorphic cognitive and motor tasks

With each of the tasks in the present studies we expected to find the reported sex difference between heterosexual women and heterosexual men and we predicted a sexual orientation effect with the performance of homosexual men being similar to that of heterosexual women and different from that of heterosexual men. Study 1 aimed to replicate earlier findings by recording the performance of a group of homosexual men on a visuospatial task, the Vincent Mechanical Diagrams Test (VMDT), a dot detection divided visual field measure of functional cerebral asymmetry, and on five subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). For each task the profile of scores obtained for the homosexual men was similar to that of heterosexual women in that they scored lower than heterosexual men on the VMDT, they showed less asymmetry, and they recorded a higher Verbal than Performance IQ on the WAIS. In Study 2, a male-biased targeted throwing task favored heterosexual men while, in contrast, on the female-biased Purdue Pegboard single peg condition heterosexual men were outperformed by heterosexual women and homosexual men. On neither of these two tasks did the performances of homosexual men and heterosexual women differ. One task, manual speed, yielded neither sex nor sexual orientation differences. Another, the Purdue Pegboard assemblies condition, revealed a sex difference but no sexual orientation difference. Failure to obtain a sexual orientation difference in the presence of a sex difference suggests that the sexual orientation effect may be restricted to a subset of sexually dimorphic tasks.     

Are parents' gender schemas related to their children's gender-related cognitions? A meta-analysis.

Meta-analyses were conducted of 43 articles (with 48 different samples) investigating the relationship between parents' gender schemas and their offspring's gender-related cognitions. The parents' offspring ranged in age from infancy to early adulthood. Offspring measures included gender self-concept, gender attitudes toward others, gender-related interests, and occupational attitudes. Overall, a small but meaningful effect size (r = .16) indicated a significant and positive correlation between parent gender schemas and offspring measures. Specifically, parents with more traditional gender schemas were more likely than parents with more nontraditional schemas to have offspring with gender-typed cognitions about themselves or others. In addition, the magnitudes of observed effect sizes were influenced by particular moderator variables, including type of parent gender schema (gender self-concept vs. gender attitudes toward others), type of offspring gender-related cognitions, parent gender, offspring gender, offspring age, and publication characteristics. The results are cautiously interpreted as suggesting a possible influence of parents on the development of their children's gender-related thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure of HIV infection: Preliminary results from a sample of Hispanic men.

Examined self-disclosure of HIV infection among 101 adult Hispanic men with HIV infection. Results indicated that disclosure was highly selective and presumably influenced by the social, psychological, and material consequences of informing others about one's medical condition. Ss tended to inform significant others (parents, friends, and lovers) rather than less significant others (employers, landlords, and religious leaders.) There was a high rate of disclosure (75%) to doctors/dentists who were not treating Ss for HIV infection. Gay and bisexual Ss were more inclined to disclose their HIV serostatus to homosexual or bisexual others than to heterosexuals, and to inform those who were aware of their sexual orientation. Disclosure increased with severity of disease independently of length of time since testing seropositive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distribution and synthesis of type VII collagen in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Modern reproductive techniques and alternative family structures (with single or homosexual parents and adoption situations) raise questions about the consequences for the growing children involved. Genetic links appear to be less important for the functioning of a family than a strong wish for parenthood; parents who have become parents only through great efforts display a better quality of parenthood than average natural parents. Characteristics of the parent/parents, such as paedagogic qualities, and the quality of the parent-child relationship appear more important than the type of family. Published results of research reveal no reason why lesbian families should be judged differently from heterosexual ones as family types for the raising of children. The main negative factor for the functioning of the child growing up in a single-parent family is the marriage conflicts that have led to the single-parent situation; being raised by a single parent in itself has no adverse effect. Raising adopted children from other countries makes far greater demands on the adoptive parents than parents of biological children have to meet. The raising of a foreign adopted child by a single parent entails additional risks for the child's development. Data on the development of children in alternative family structures frequently concern exceptionally competent parents, which may have biased the findings.     

Gay and lesbian clients' selection of therapists and utilization of therapy.

Examined gay and lesbian clients' therapy utilization and therapist selection. Specifically the study examined whether clients' sexual orientation and gender relate to the total number of therapists seen and to the average duration of therapy, what the demographic characteristics of the therapists chosen by gay and lesbian clients are, the likelihood that gay men and lesbians prescreened potential therapists for gay-affirmative attitudes, the methods used to prescreen, and if the prescreening related to client satisfaction. 172 gay men and 220 lesbians (aged 22–71 yrs) who had seen at least 1 therapist participated in the study. A comparison group of 81 heterosexual individuals matched for demographic characteristics also participated in the study. Results show that 41% of the therapists gay and lesbian Ss saw in the 1990s were gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Of the therapists seen, 63% had been screened for gay-affirmative attitudes by respondents before being selected. Prescreening was associated with higher therapist ratings. Several methods for therapist screening were reported including seeking a referral. Results also show that gay and lesbian Ss reported seeing more therapists and seeing therapists for longer durations than heterosexual Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies, alcohol, and sexual arousal in male social drinkers.

Randomly assigned 40 undergraduate males, all social drinkers, to 1 of 2 expectation conditions in which they were led to believe that the beverage they were administered contained either vodka and tonic or tonic only. For half of the Ss in each expectation condition, the beverage contained vodka; the others drank only tonic. After their drinks, measures of penile tumescence were taken from Ss using a penile strain gauge during 2 erotic films, 1 depicting a heterosexual interaction, the other a male homosexual interaction. Although analyses of variance failed to reveal any effect of alcohol per se, there were significant effects of expectation on penile tumescence during both the heterosexual and homosexual films. Ss who believed that they had consumed an alcoholic beverage manifested significantly greater sexual arousal than those believing they had consumed a nonalcoholic beverage, regardless of the contents of their drinks. Although no consistent effects were observed on additional measures of sexual arousal, including the TAT, the Word Association Test, and forehead skin temperature, there was a significant positive correlation between self-report measures of sexual arousal and penile tumescence. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring attitudes regarding bisexuality in lesbian, gay male, and heterosexual populations.

Five studies on the development and validation of the Attitudes Regarding Bisexuality Scale (ARBS) were conducted. Factor analysis of an initial pool of 80 items yielded 2 factors assessing the degree to which bisexuality is viewed as a tolerable, moral sexual orientation (Tolerance) and a legitimate, stable sexual orientation (Stability). Three forms of the ARBS were created: a form to assess attitudes about female and male bisexuality (i.e., ARBS-FM) and forms to assess attitudes about female bisexuality (i.e, ARBS-F) and male bisexuality (ARBS-M). These forms evidenced moderate-to-high internal consistency reliability in both lesbian and gay samples and heterosexual samples. In heterosexual women and men, subscale were most strongly related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men; frequency of religious attendance; political ideology; and prior contact with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. In lesbians and gay men, subscales correlated with prior experiences with bisexual people, desired contact with bisexual people, contact with homosexual people, and sexual orientation identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual orientation and childhood gender nonconformity: Evidence from home videos.

Homosexual adults tend to be more gender nonconforming than heterosexual adults in some of their behaviors, feelings, and interests. Retrospective studies have also shown large differences in childhood gender nonconformity, but these studies have been criticized for possible memory biases. The authors studied an indicator of childhood gender nonconformity not subject to such biases: childhood home videos. They recruited homosexual and heterosexual men and women (targets) with videos from their childhood and subsequently asked heterosexual and homosexual raters to judge the gender nonconformity of the targets from both the childhood videos and adult videos made for the study. Prehomosexual children were judged more gender nonconforming, on average, than preheterosexual children, and this pattern obtained for both men and women. This difference emerged early, carried into adulthood, and was consistent with self-report. In addition, targets who were more gender nonconforming tended to recall more childhood rejection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual-motor compatibility and homonegativity: Approaching and avoiding words associated with homosexuality.

Two studies explored conceptual-motor compatibility effects underlying attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. In Study 1, we tested if attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women would influence whether or not participants chose to engage in, and how quickly they engaged in, approach or avoidance motor movements. Participants responded to homosexual and heterosexual words on a computer screen by choosing to push (avoidance movement) or pull (approach movement) a computer mouse. Findings indicated that participants who were high in prejudice chose to make more prejudice-compatible motor responses than did participants who were low in prejudice. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to a prejudice-compatible or prejudice-incompatible motor movements condition. Results indicated that highly prejudiced participants were faster to complete prejudice-compatible motor movements than were low prejudice participants. Implications for implicit attitudes and measuring prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept and expectancy for social reinforcement in noninstitutionalized male homosexuals.

Selected a total of 80 college-educated, socially-functioning homosexual males (including teachers and other professionals) with high or low scores on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. Ss guessed at the frequency of smiling and angry faces, a task adapted from D. Rosenhan and S. Messick's (see record 1966-02293-001) study of heterosexual males. Results provide evidence for the interaction of self-concept and the sex of the expected faced, and the tendency to over- and underestimate the number of faces. The significant Sex * Dominant Input (the measure of expectancy) interaction was contingent on self-concept. Results are comparable to those of Rosenhan and Messick, suggesting that the generalization that male homosexuals have a preference for objects of the same sex (based on a high expectancy for negative reinforcement from female figures) may need qualification or revision. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)