In the present era, there are many viewpoints on a person’s sexual preference. This is in contrast to the past where heterosexuality affiliations were only accepted. From empirical research, heterosexual’s attitudes toward homosexual persons are constantly correlated with various variables such as demographic, psychological, social, gender and religious background (Cohen TR et al . 2009) Today, adolescents and young adults’ opinion of homosexuality plays a key role in the stigmatization and marginalization of gay men and lesbians, thereby influencing their health (Brewer, 2014). Scientific literature about adult’s heterosexuals’ attitude towards homosexuals is being used today as a start off point from which knowledge on sexual prejudice among adolescents (Ohlander et al . 2005). Young adults and adolescents have been exposed to differ in their attitudes towards homosexuals in a number of predictable ways. Reliable findings show that adolescent and young adult males show more sexual prejudice than females (Gross et al . 2005). Studies found out that those who hold traditional male role attitudes and endorsing of traditional masculine, and feminine behavioral and occupational stereotypes exhibit more negative attitudes toward homosexuality (Reese et al. 2014). As such, the aim of this study is to explore how different variables relate to attitudes towards homosexual persons among adolescents and young adults. Interested to find out the correlation of different variables as it relates to attitudes towards homosexual persons, the study was to survey varied adolescent and young adults to find out the correlation between their gender and religious affiliation in relation and how they viewed homosexual persons. The survey considers the following hypotheses:
1. First hypothesis
a. Ho There is no correlation between gender and attitude towards homosexuals.
b. H1 There is a correlation between gender and attitude towards homosexuals.
2. Second hypothesis
a. Ho There is no correlation between religious affiliation and attitude towards homosexuals.
b. H1 There is a correlation between religious affiliation and attitudes towards homosexuals.
I predicted that there will be a correlation between females adolescent and attitudes towards homosexual persons. The reason for this kind of prediction is that females tend to look more liberal and seem to put up with the present trends.
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Method
The participants were students from the University who were willing, participate in this research. A total of 18 students participated in filling out this research. Questionnaires were formulated and they integrated both sections that were to be surveyed. First, the students were required to sign-up consent forms for an opportunity to fill out the questionnaire. Students were given instructions on how to fill the questionnaire and were assured that the answers therein were entirely anonymous and voluntary.
The questionnaire contained the following questions;
Part one
1. What gender are you?
Male
Female
2. What is your religion?
Catholic
Baptist
Christian
Other
Part two
Answer the question with a YES or NO answer.
1. I consider myself homophobic
2. I am antagonistic towards homosexual persons
3. I am friendly toward homosexual persons
4. I have homosexual friends
The collected surveys were then entered on an excel spreadsheet. Participants were feed into rows while the answers were entered in the columns; each answer per column for faster sorting purpose. The responses for these questions were entered into the sheet as and NO answers were entered as 1 and YES answer as 2. The percentage data was calculated after sorting out the YES and NO answers.
The survey consisted 12 females (66%) and 6 males (34%). The age ranged between 18 years to 26 years of age, with an average age of 22 years. An independent variable sample test was used to check the efficiency of the variants.
Results
The participants’ final results were 76% negative attitude towards homosexuals and 24% positive attitude towards homosexual persons (Figure 1). This is an indication that on average the surveyed population held negative attitudes towards homosexual people. The independent sample of 50 participants was used to check on the efficiency of the survey had the following outcomes:
1. Gender = 67% (male), 43% (female)
2. Religious affiliation- Baptist = 13.47%
-Catholics = 38.46%
-Christians = 28.84%
-Others = 19.23%
According to this data, variations were considered to be not important.
The first hypothesis is the survey of correlation between gender and attitudes towards homosexual people. As it can be seen in figure 2, the male individuals seem to hold negative attitudes towards homosexuals. Males result was 83% with negative attitudes and 58% of females held positive attitudes. This gave a total of 56% of those who held negative attitudes and a 44% of those who held positive attitudes. From this result, it shows that males have a higher negative attitude toward homosexual persons than females.
The second hypothesis of this survey was a correlation between religious affiliation and attitudes towards homosexual persons. As can be established from the outcomes in (figure 3), those participants with religious background registered negative attitudes towards homosexuals as compared to others (those with no religious background), who seemed to show positive attitudes toward homosexuals.
Discussion
The outcomes of this survey seem to show a difference in attitude between females and males, and those with religious affiliation and non-religious affiliation. The survey has established that males and those with religious background seem to have more negative attitudes towards homosexual people. According to this study, it can be concluded that females are more likely to show positive attitudes towards homosexuals, just as I had predicted above. However, the research had a weakness that can inform future studies. For example, the limited area covered as well as the variables considered. Also, a future survey should consider people from different social classes and background. This survey only concentrated on University environment. As such, more area should be covered in order to have a clearer view of different variables and their correlation to attitude towards homosexual persons.
References
Brewer, G. (2014). Heterosexual and homosexual infidelity: The importance of attitudes towards homosexuality. Personality and Individual Differences, 64, 98-100.;46:274–281.
Cohen TR, Hall DL, Tuttle J. (2009). Attitudes toward stereotypical versus counterstereotypical gay men and lesbians. Journal of Sex Research. [ PubMed ]
Gross, E., & Byrnes, E. (2005). A Study of Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians in the State of Utah, U.S.A. Journal of Glbt Family Studies, 1, 3, 53-84.
Ohlander, J., Batalova, J. & Treas, J. (2005). Explaining educational influences on attitudes toward homosexual relations. Social Science Research, 34, 4, 781-799.
Reese, G., Steffens, M. C., & Jonas, K. J. (2014). Religious Affiliation and Attitudes Towards Gay Men: On the Mediating Role of Masculinity Threat. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 24, 4, 340-355.
