Heterosexist attitudes: Changes following contact with an openly gay instructor.
Item
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Title
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Heterosexist attitudes: Changes following contact with an openly gay instructor.
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Identifier
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AAI3204999
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identifier
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3204999
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Creator
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Kilmnick, David.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gerald P. Mallon
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social Work | Sociology, Public and Social Welfare | Education, Community College
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Abstract
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One promising avenue in reducing prejudice has been contact between minority and majority populations. This study investigated the relationship between prejudice and contact, with a long-term goal of understanding the causes of heterosexism and homophobia. The purpose of this work was to determine the extent to which contact with an openly gay instructor influenced attitudes and beliefs in a group of community college students. The study used a nonequivalent contrast group quasi-experimental design comparing 61 students from a community college human sexuality class taught by a gay instructor who disclosed his sexual orientation to the class early in the semester with 79 students from the same course taught by a heterosexual instructor who also disclosed her sexual orientation. There were six hypotheses tested: first, that students in classes with an openly gay instructor would evidence a greater drop in heterosexism from pretest to posttest than students in classes with a heterosexual instructor; second, that certain individuals would show more heterosexist attitudes after being in a class taught by a gay instructor; third that subjects who define homosexuality as an individual choice would have more heterosexist attitudes; fourth, that individuals in the gay instructor group would evidence a greater increase on a validated measure of attitudes about homosexuality; fifth, that individuals who perceive their peers and parents as possessing negative attitudes toward homosexuality would have more heterosexist attitudes; and sixth, that those individuals who report close relationships with gay and lesbian individuals would hold more accepting attitudes toward gays and lesbians. The major findings are that contact with a gay instructor does reduce heterosexist attitudes among college students. Subjects were more likely to show reduced heterosexist attitudes if they believed that homosexuality is not a choice. Furthermore, heterosexism among friends and family members of subjects may be a significant predictor of heterosexism. An unexpected finding was that demographic variables such as race and religion did not play a large role in determining attitudes. These results have implications for social work theory and practice, especially with respect to how social workers are educated.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
