Gender as a moderator in prediction of homophobia

Abstract

Studies indicate complexity of causes for occurence and expression of homophobia, and indicate gender differences in its expression. However, studies that would investigate the relationship of known sources of homophobia, like implicit attitudes, personality, and defense mechanisms, are not available. The aim of this study is to investigate predictive validity of different factors like intensity of sexual attraction towards opposite sex, implicit associations related to homosexuality, personality, use of defense mechanisms in men and women, and to examine a moderating role of gender in prediction of homophobia. Test of homophobia (H-25) was administered to a sample of 123 students. For assessment of the intensity of sexual attraction towards opposite sex we used Connotative Differential (CD-15), while for assessment of implicit attitudes the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was applied. Personality was measured with a short adjective scale for assessment of the Big Five, and defense mechanisms were assessed with the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ40). Results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest that use of immature and less frequent use of mature defence mechanisms have influence on expression of homophobia in both sexes. In addition, findings indicate that the motivational aspect of sexual attraction towards opposite sex and rigid personality lead to stonger homophobia in man in comparison to women. Results supportthe hypothesis that homophobia can have different sources and functions depending of the sex of the person.