Outside the mold
When and Why Is Religious Attendance Associated With Antigay Bias and Gay Rights Opposition? A Justification-Suppression Model Approach
Mark Romeo Hoffarth, Gordon Hodson & Danielle Molnar
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Even in relatively tolerant countries, antigay bias remains socially divisive, despite being widely viewed as violating social norms of tolerance. From a Justification-Suppression Model (JSM) framework, social norms may generally suppress antigay bias in tolerant countries, yet be "released" by religious justifications among those who resist gay rights progress. Across large, nationally representative US samples (Study 1) and international samples (Study 2, representing a total of 97 different countries), over 215,000 participants, and various indicators of antigay bias (e.g., dislike, moral condemnation, opposing gay rights), individual differences in religious attendance was uniquely associated with greater antigay bias, over and above religious fundamentalism, political ideology, and religious denomination. Moreover, in 4 of 6 multilevel models, religious attendance was associated with antigay bias in countries with greater gay rights recognition, but was unrelated to antigay bias in countries with lower gay rights recognition (Study 2). In Study 3, Google searches for a religious justification ("love the sinner hate the sin") coincided temporally with gay-rights relevant searches. In U.S. (Study 4) and Canadian (Study 5) samples, much of the association between religious attendance and antigay bias was explained by "sinner-sin" religious justification, with religious attendance not associated with antigay bias when respondents reported relatively low familiarity with this justification (Study 5). These findings suggest that social divisions on homosexuality in relatively tolerant social contexts may be in large part due to religious justifications for antigay bias (consistent with the JSM), with important implications for decreasing bias.
LGBTQ Student Victimization and Its Relationship to School Discipline and Justice System Involvement
Neal Palmer & Emily Greytak
Criminal Justice Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience higher rates of school-based victimization than their peers, and this victimization contributes to higher risk of suicide, substance misuse, mental disorder, and unsafe sexual experiences. In addition, these experiences may increase LGBTQ students' interactions with school authorities and, subsequently, increase their risk of school discipline and involvement in the justice system. Using a sample of 8,215 LGBTQ middle and high school students in the United States surveyed online in 2015, this article explores the relationships between peer victimization and higher school disciplinary and justice system involvement among LGBTQ youth. Results indicate that LGBTQ youth who are victimized at school experience greater school discipline, including disciplinary referrals to school administration, school detention, suspension, and expulsion; and greater involvement in the justice system as a result of school discipline, including arrest, adjudication, and detention in a juvenile or adult facility. Moreover, school staff responses to victimization partially explain this relationship: Students reporting that staff responded to victimization in a discriminatory or unhelpful fashion experienced higher rates of school discipline and justice system involvement than those reporting that staff responded more effectively. Schools must confront pervasive anti-LGBTQ victimization and ineffective or biased responses from school staff to reduce unnecessary disciplinary involvement.
Beyond generalized sexual prejudice: Need for closure predicts negative attitudes toward bisexual people relative to gay/lesbian people
Sara Burke et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, July 2017, Pages 145-150
Abstract:
Increasing evidence suggests that bisexual people are sometimes evaluated more negatively than heterosexual and gay/lesbian people. A common theoretical account for this discrepancy argues that bisexuality is perceived by some as introducing ambiguity into a binary model of sexuality. The present brief report tests a single key prediction of this theory, that evaluations of bisexual people have a unique relationship with Need for Closure (NFC), a dispositional preference for simple ways of structuring information. Participants (n = 3406) were heterosexual medical students from a stratified random sample of 49 U.S. medical schools. As in prior research, bisexual targets were evaluated slightly more negatively than gay/lesbian targets overall. More importantly for the present investigation, higher levels of NFC predicted negative evaluations of bisexual people after accounting for negative evaluations of gay/lesbian people, and higher levels of NFC also predicted an explicit evaluative preference for gay/lesbian people over bisexual people. These results suggest that differences in evaluations of sexual minority groups partially reflect different psychological processes, and that NFC may have a special relevance for bisexual targets even beyond its general association with prejudice. The practical value of testing this theory on new physicians is also discussed.
Polyvictimization Prevalence Rates for Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents: Breaking Down the Silos of Victimization Research
Paul Sterzing et al.
Psychology of Violence, forthcoming
Objective: To identify lifetime polyvictimization rates by gender identity and sexual orientation, for a national sample of sexual and gender minority adolescents.
Method: An anonymous, incentivized, online survey was completed by 1,177 sexual and gender minority adolescents who were currently enrolled in middle or high school (14 to 19-years-old).
Results: Most of the sample experienced some form of lifetime physical assault (81.3%), bullying victimization (88.8%), sexual victimization (80.6%), child maltreatment (78.8%), property victimization (80.1%), and indirect or witnessed forms of victimization (75.0%). The overall rate of polyvictimization for the sample was 41.3%. Genderqueer assigned male at birth (65.4%), transgender female (63.2%), transgender male (57.4%), genderqueer assigned female at birth (55.0%), and cisgender female (39.3%) adolescents were significantly more likely to be lifetime polyvictimized than their cisgender male counterparts (31.1%). In addition, pansexual (56.8%), queer (52.0%), questioning (47.0%), and bisexual (45.8%) participants were significantly more likely to be lifetime polyvictimized than their gay-identified counterparts (32.7%).
Maternal Activity during Pregnancy and Sexually Dimorphic Traits in Offspring
Lee Ellis, Russell Eisenman & Anthony Hoskin
Journal of Biosocial Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies have found positive correlations between prenatal exposure to testosterone and masculinization of offspring traits, particularly among females. The present study sought to determine if physical or sexual activity by the mother during pregnancy was related to masculinized/defeminized offspring traits in adulthood. Data were obtained from a large sample of North American college students (offspring) and their mothers. Information about maternal activity levels during pregnancy were reported retrospectively by each mother. The offspring provided self-ratings of various sexually dimorphic traits. Several significant correlations were found. By and large, as maternal physical activity increased, feminine mannerisms decreased and masculine mannerisms increased in the offspring, particularly for females. Maternal physical activity was also associated with increased upper- and lower-body strength and especially with adult height among offspring. Sexual activity by the mother was only associated with upper-body strength and adult height, particularly of the female offspring. Several sexually dimorphic physical traits in offspring are associated with maternal activity levels during pregnancy. Prenatal testosterone is almost certainly involved. The associations could either reflect genetic influences (given that prenatal testosterone is highly heritable) or an effect of maternal testosterone being transferred to the developing fetus. More research is needed to assess the relative merit of these two possibilities.