Attitudes towards homosexuality among university students

Attitudes towards homosexuality among university students In 2006, Answers Corporation explained that homosexuality is a term created by 19th century. The meaning of homosexual is, having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex (The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, 2006). Homosexuality includes two groups, which are female homosexuality and male homosexuality. Female homosexuality is described as lesbianism and the male homosexuality is described as gay (Answers Corporation, 2006). At the beginning, some of the psychologists said that homosexuality is a mental illness and put it into the list of mental disorder. However, after some of the studies, they realized that homosexuality is not a mental disorder because it is related to psychological disturbance and is in no sense of mental problem as well. So, homosexuality removed from the list of mental disorders (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). The factors that lead to homosexuality are critical and discuss by many specialist fields such as psychologists and psychiatrists. View of Psychologists toward Reason of Homosexuality In Robinson study (as cited in Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.), early of the twentieth century, Ellis (1901) argued that homosexuality was inborn and it was not immoral, not a disease, and that many homosexuals made outstanding contributions to society. Sigmund Freud has a different theory of human sexuality from Ellis. He believed that all human beings were innately bisexual. Human beings become heterosexual or homosexual as a result of what they have experiences with other people or environment that surrounding of them. Freud also agreed with Ellis that homosexual orientation should not be viewed as a form of pathology (Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.). He wrote a letter to an American mother in 1935. He said that, people cant get any advantages from their homosexual orientation. But, they were always blamed, discriminated by other people. Actually, homosexuality is not a sin, not an illness as well. He also said that, we need to see it as a sexual function produced by certain sexual development. There are many individuals of ancient and modern times that were respect by us are homosexuality. According to him, it is injustice and cruelty to describe that homosexuality is a crime and sin. He told the American mother that, analysis may let her son feel harmony, peace and full efficiency when her son in the time of unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, and inhibited in the social life whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed (Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.). View of Reincarnation Researchers toward Reason of Homosexuality According to Dr. Ian Stevenson, he concludes that homosexuality is a natural human trait that results from the reincarnation of a person of one gender as a person of the opposite gender. Such people must adjust to their new gender and sexuality at an early age. The difficulty of adjusting relating to the sex change and lead to homosexuality later on in their lives (as cited in Williams, 2006). Reincarnation means the soul occupation a new body after the death of the former body (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2006). The classic form of the reincarnation doctrine was formulated in India, but certainly not earlier than the 9th century BC, when the Brahmana writings were composed. After the Upanishads clearly defined the concept between the 7th and the 5th century BC, it was adopted by the other important Eastern religions which originated in India, Buddhism and Jainism. Due to the spread of Buddhism in Asia, reincarnation was later adopted by Chinese Taoism, but not earlier than the 3rd century BC (Reincarnation, its meaning and consequences, n.d.). Former girls who are reborn as boys may wish to dress as girls or prefer to play with girls rather than boys. Former boys who are reborn as girls may wish to dress as boys or prefer to play with boys rather than girls. Former men who are reborn as women will be attracted to women and will therefore be lesbian. Former women who are reborn as men will be attracted to men and will therefore be gay (as cited in Williams, 2006). Former means past-life or previous life and reborn mean present lifetime. In many cases the person begins talking about his or her life or lives before the present lifetime, about their previous death and about the time between lives including the planning of the present lifetime (as cited in Williams, 2006). So, Dr. Ian Stevenson concludes that, homosexuality is the stem of reincarnation. Beside of the factors to cause homosexuality, the factors that influence people attitudes towards homosexuality are also very controversial. Different people may bring out different of attitudes, thinking, feeling and behaviors towards homosexuality. The differences can be considered contribute to some of the factors such as personal and social factors. Personal Factors that Influence Attitudes towards Homosexual Age. Have a measure of tolerance of homosexual behaviors from attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, such as the nations of Australia, USA, Norway, and others indicated that the higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher the tolerance scored the higher the acceptance of homosexuality. The predicted level of tolerances for young people age 20 would be 53 points. People in middle age have tolerance scores of 43 points by age 40. At age 60, the tolerance scored is about 33 and with 23 points at age 80. It showed that, as the age increasing, the tolerance scored of homosexual was decreasing. The tolerance point of elder was low compare to younger people (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Beside of the factors of age, the attitudes also influences by religion. Religion background. Different religious will makes a large difference to tolerance of homosexuality. According to a test of measure of homosexual behaviors tolerance, the higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher the tolerance scored the higher acceptance of homosexuality. Ardent believers in a personal God would rate homosexual behavior at 28 points. But, staunch atheists who are totally reject the idea of personal God rate homosexuality at 59 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). It obviously showed that, Ardent believers in a personal God was less accepting to homosexuality which rate 28 points compare to staunch atheists who totally reject the idea of personal God which rate 59 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Beside that, church goers are less tolerant of homosexuality than those who are never darken a churchs door. People who are regular going to church rate 32 points, and those who are shunning the church were rating 48 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). It is because according to Christians, homosexuality violating some of Gods most basic commandments for humanity. Christians belief in Gods condemnation of homosexuality is claimed to be so important that forcing them to treat gays equally means forcing them to violate their religious beliefs (Cline, n.d.). In nearly all societies throughout human history, religion offers answers to fundamental questions concerning the origin and meaning of things. Religious systems of explanation offer accounts of the creation of the world, as well as specifying the rules for proper behavior-and the consequences for infractions-that have been imposed by the Creator (Gross, 2005). Christianity traditionally forbid sexual relations between people of the same sex and teaches that such behavior is sinful (Gross, 2005). So, religious belief and church attendance have strongly influence on attitudes towards homosexuality in almost 29 nations. Beside of the factors of religion, the attitudes toward homosexuality also influences by faculty of study among students (Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality, 2006). Faculty of study. Students who studied faculties of Arts or Social Science had more positive attitudes toward gay man compared to Science or Business students. The result revealed that students in the faculties of Arts and Social Science had more positive attitudes towards homosexual compare with students in faculties Business and Science (Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears, 1999). It shows that there are two possible reasons that determined these results. First, students who value traditional sex roles may be the most likely to select programs in faculties of business and sciences where political attitudes are conservative. Second, students with less value traditional sex roles may be the most likely to select programs in faculties of Art and Social Science. It is because they thought the departments are more liberal (Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears, 1999). In academic field, beside the factor of different faculty of study, the educational level also plays a very important role to determine the attitudes towards homosexuality. Educational level. The higher years of education people involve, the higher scored of tolerances people have. The higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher of tolerance scored sign that it is more acceptance of homosexuality (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). The point of tolerances was 34 out of 100 rating by people who with 8 years of education. Those with 10 years of education were rating 38 points and people who have complete 2 years masters degree after 4 year bachelors degree was rating 51 points. So, the gap between the least educated and the most educated is 17 points. (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). This tolerance-enhancing effect of education actually is link to other forces which importantly depend on the independent of age, so the lesser censure of homosexuality among the highly educated cannot be attributed to a changing social climate. The age effects themselves suggest that there is a changing social climate, but the education effects are in addition to that (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Other than that, gender also likely to have strongly influences on the attitudes towards homosexuality. Many researchers conducted researches that related to gender differences and their attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. Gender. Gender belief system is the pattern of masculine or feminine behavior of an individual that is defined by a particular culture and that is largely determined by a childs upbringing (Answers.com, 2006). Kite and Whitley suggested that men rating the gay men more negative than women, but they were same in the rating of lesbians. Within the male and female, women made approximately equal rating of lesbians and gay men, but mens rating of lesbians were more positive than rating of gay men (as cited in Louiderback Whitley, 1997). According to Kite and Whitley study, it is because people who have strong gender belief system have more negative attitudes towards homosexual because homosexuality violates the norms of that belief system. Also, men held more traditional sex-role attitudes than women. So, in the perspective of men, male should be act more masculine and aggressive. They also strongly hold the traditional sexual orientation which is heterosexuality (as cited in Louiderback Whitley, 1997). Beside that, a study (as cited in Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears 1999.), it also showed that male hold more negative attitudes towards gay men than lesbians, and, they also hold more negative attitudes to homosexual compare with female. Different attitude towards homosexuality is the impact of personal factors. But, the social factors also have certain level of impact on the attitudes towards homosexuality. Social Factors that Influence Attitudes towards Homosexual Media. Dissemination of information about homosexuality in marketing, television shows, and public opinion polls, will affect the attitudes of public toward homosexuals no matter it is accurate or inaccurate. The information of homosexuals will lead to AIDS has strong impact on attitudes towards homosexuality. The perpetuation of homophobic attitudes such as the treatment of people with HIV, moralistic interpretations of people with AIDS, certain conceptions about the methods of HIV transmitted, media representation of AIDS, and even the way in which medicines objectivity reinforces a moral view inimical to gay men, lesbians and bisexuals (Anderson, Fakhfakh, Kondylis, 1999). Many of the researches have approved that some of the factors influence attitudes towards homosexuality. There are also some of the researches conducted by researchers to approve whether the stereotypes of people towards homosexuality is correct or not. Social differences. Social differences in the tolerance of homosexuality are quite large. This can help to explain why people living in different social circles have different perceptions of what the average Australian thinks. For example, 70 years old had left school at the end of year 10, and who holds strong religious beliefs and attends church regularly would rate homosexual behaviors at just 1 point out of 100 or always wrong (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Stereotypes towards Homosexuality Characteristics. Normally, people would like to believe that gay men are effeminate and lesbians are tomboys while there are some homosexual people who fit these stereotypes. But, actually they are not representative of all homosexual people. So, the stereotypes of characteristics of homosexual people are not correct at all (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Duration of relationship. Studies indicate that people would have the stereotypes that homosexual person will not involve in long-term, stable and close relationship with their partners. But, it is not unusual to find homosexuality couples who had been together for over twenty years (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Homosexual parents. Some people believe that children of gay or lesbian people are more likely to grow up to be homosexual as their parents. Beside that, people also believe that these children will grow up without appropriate ethical values. In fact, homosexual parents would like to teach their children the values of kindness and charity because they are the victims of hate and discrimination in society (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). According to Family Research Report (2001), children who have homosexual parents would be expected to do less well than kids in general in school, on the job, in marriage, raising their own kids, and others. Normally, children of homosexual parents cannot do well in sex identity, language skills and mathematics fields compare to children of heterosexual parents. But, children of homosexual parents hold strongly social study than children of heterosexual parents. However, they have tries to be successful in life. So not every child with homosexual parents would be expected to be a failure, nor would every child raised by a homosexual parent be expected to fail. Likewise, not every child rose by a married mother and father would be expected to succeed (Family Research Report, 2001). Religion. The vast majority of the worlds churches take the stance that homosexual acts are a sin. To cite an example of a religious viewpoint, the Roman Catholic Church in a passage from its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, states, As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents ones own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. Homosexuality is labeled as a moral disorder; it is not regular or acceptable (The Scientific Debate on Homosexuality, n.d.). People believe that Christians are disagreeing homosexuality. Some religious groups interpret certain biblical passages as injunctions against homosexuality, while others view these passages in the light of historical context, much like slavery. Actually, many Christians were condemning discrimination and prejudice. They welcome and affirm homosexual Christians into the body of Christ, with unique gifts to offer (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Beside to conduct researches to reveal the stereotypes of people towards homosexuality is correct or not, there also a research on how the public opinion towards homosexuality among different nations. Public Opinion toward Homosexual among Different Nations In study of Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality (2006), it showed that the result of acceptance homosexuality in Africa and the Middle East are tend to strongly disagree. But, major Latin American countries such as Mexico and Brazil accept homosexuality. At Australia 1999, the result showed that 28% of people think that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex are not wrong at all, 15 % think that it is wrong only sometimes, 9 % think that it is almost always wrong, and 48% think that it is always wrong (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). According to Robinson (2003), Apoll by the Gallup Organization from United State has conducted a research of acceptable of homosexuality in the public. The result showed the percentage of the survey result: do you personally believe that it is acceptable or not acceptable for gays and lesbians to engage in same-sex behavior? as in 1982-JUN, there was 34% people accept homosexuality and by 1992-JUN, there was an increasing percentage which is 38%. In 1992-MAR, there was 44% and by 1997-APR, there was 42%. In 1999-FEB, there was 50 % and by 2001-MAY, there was 52%. There was 51% in 2002-MAY and 54% in 2003-MAY. It showed that the percentage of acceptable towards homosexuality in the United State is increasing by year of 1982 to 2003. The Pew Research Centers 2003 Global Attitudes Survey found that, people in Africa and the Middle East strongly object to societal acceptance of homosexuality. But there is far greater tolerance for homosexuality in major Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Opinion in Europe is split between West and East. Majorities in every Western European nation surveyed say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while most Russians, Poles and Ukrainians disagree. 51% of Americans believes homosexuality should be accepted, while 42% disagree (as cited in Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality, 2006). Significant of This Study Based on the above introduction, one can see the important of understanding of students attitude to homosexuality. Firstly, according to Lisa Lamar and Mary Kite (1998), it said that males have more negative attitudes towards gay men and this is due to gender roles factor. However, Schellenberg, Hirt Sears (1999), found that males who study in Arts and Social Sciences have more positive attitudes towards gay men. So, this study want to know UTAR Psychology course students attitudes towards gay men is affected by gender roles or the faculties that they have chose. Second, according to research of Brownell, he found that religions are related to negative attitudes towards lesbian and gay men. Malaysia have many types of religions include Islamic, Buddhist, Indian, and others. This study wants to know are there having differences of attitudes between religions in Malaysia or not. This will make us know more about how the attitudes of different religions people towards lesbian and gay men. This can reduce conflict or make different religions people can communicate easily. Third, Many students have confused or varying opinions on homosexuality. It is important for all students to come to terms with what they currently think and feel about homosexuality (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). This study want to let them conscious about their attitudes towards homosexual and let them decide they want to change it or not. Beside that, through this study, students of psychology course can more concern about issue of homosexuality and conduct or do further research on it. The further research can help public know about homosexual such as why homosexual, what reason to make them become homosexual, and others. Once public know more about the homosexual group, they might change their attitudes towards homosexual as well as reduce their discrimination perception towards homosexual. This study will determine whether the result of this study same with the result of previous researches or not. For this study, it should make a clear distinction of attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women with divide the homosexual to lesbian and gay men. For example, many of previous research conducted research by using the term homosexual but do not divide the term homosexual into gay men and lesbian women. Research Questions For this study, it will explore the gender influences on attitudes towards homosexuality among university students. We would like to understand more about the gender differences of acceptance of homosexuality among university students. Beside that, this study will determine whether the result is same with the result of previous researches or not. The research questions in this study are as follows. First, are there any gender differences in the attitudes towards lesbian and homosexual? Second, is there any gender difference in their knowledge of homosexual? Third, are there any religion differences in their attitude towards lesbian and homosexual? Fourth, is there any religion difference in their knowledge of homosexual? CHAPTER II METHOD Participants 118 Psychology students from year 1 to year 3 in University Tunku Abdul Rahman were selected as the sample of this study. Simple random method was used in the selection. There are 82 females and 36 females. All of the students who participated in the survey are simple random sampling. Materials Questionnaire. The survey conducted using questionnaire (see Appendix 1). All participants completed a 4 pages questionnaire consisting of two sections. Instructions accompanying the questionnaire guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality. The first part is about the respondents demographic such as gender, age, year, race, and religion. The second part is about respondents attitudes toward lesbian and gay. There are 32 questions in this test. In this test, the first 4 questions are asked about the general attitudes towards homosexuality such as a) I know about homosexuals, and b) Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment (see appendix 1). Question 5 to 18 is asked about the attitudes towards lesbians such as a) Lesbians just cant fit into our society, b) exual relations between two female is wrong, c) Female homosexuality is a sin and, d) Lesbians are sick (see appendix 1). Question 19 to 32 is asked about the attitudes towards gay men such as a) I think male homosexuals are disgusting, b) Male homosexuality is a perversion, c) Sexual relations between two male is wrong and, d) Homosexual behavior between two men is just plain wrong (see appendix 1). Participants had to rate on the Likert Scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) according to their attitudes towards homosexual which include lesbian and gay man. Software. SPSS for Windows (12.0) was used for all statistical analyses. Procedures The survey was conducted by using simple random sampling design. A sampling frame, which is the numbered name lists of students from Year One to Year Three Psychology class at UTAR was obtained from the Faculty General Office. All the name of the students were mixed and came out with a new name list (see Appendix 2). A sample size of 118 was selected. The simple random sampling was conducted as follows: A starting point in the table of Random Numbers in the Appendix 4 was chosen using a finger stab. The stab came down at column 6, row 15 at the entry 13916. As the sampling frame ranged from 1 to 301, the left three numbers in each set of five were used when drawing the sample. The number 0 was ignored if that number over 301. The numbers to be included in sampling were been identified by moving across the table from left to right every alternate line started from up and down. The numbers got were highline in yellow color (see Appendix 3). We distributed the questionnaire to the samples that have been selected by simple random method through UTAR lecturers. The survey took between ten to five-teen minutes to complete and then collected back by lecturers after the respondents completed it in the same day. Instructions accompanying the questionnaire guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality. CHAPTER III RESULT Reliability Test There were five dimensions in the questionnaire. First, the dimension of Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians, it consisted by 10 questions which is from question 5 to question 14. The Cronbachs Alpha was 0.81 after questions 5, 7, 9, 13 were deleted (Table 1, pg 16). Therefore, the mean of these 6 items was calculated to represent the respondents negative attitudes toward lesbians. Second, for the dimension of Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians, it consisted by 4 questions which is from question 15 to question 18. There were 0.49 alphas when question 16 was deleted (Table 1, pg 16). For the dimension of Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men, it consisted by 10 questions which is from question 19 to question 28. There were 0.87 alphas when question 20 was deleted (Table 1, pg 16). For the dimension of Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men, it consisted by 4 questions which is from question 29 to question 32. There were 0.64 alphas and none of the questions being deleted (Table 1, pg 16). The reliability alpha of the question 1 to 4 was 0.01 alphas. So, these 4 questions cannot compute as one dimension and will be analyzed individually (see Table 1, pg 16). Table 1 Reliability test Dimension Cronbachs Alpha N of Items Items Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians 0.81 6 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14 Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians 0.49 3 15, 17, 18 Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men 0.87 9 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men 0.64 4 29, 30, 31, 32 I know about homosexual Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste 0.01 4 1, 2, 3, 4 I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar Gender Differences toward Homosexual Negative attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender negative attitudes towards the lesbian, t (118) = 0.08, n.s. , where the mean for the negative attitudes toward lesbian for male students is 2.60 ( SD = 0.81), and 2.59 (SD = 0.71) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Positive attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender positive attitudes toward the lesbians, t (118) = 0.31, n.s., where the mean for the positive attitudes toward lesbians for male students is 3.29 (SD = 0.66), and 3.32 (SD = 0.54) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Negative attitudes toward gay men. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was a significant difference between gender negative attitudes toward gay men, t (118) = 2.24, p Positive attitudes toward gay men. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender positive attitudes toward gay men, t (118) = -1.520, n.s., where the mean for the positive attitudes toward gay men for male students is 3.11 (SD = 0.80), and 3.30 (SD = 0.52) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Knowledge towards homosexuality. The results of Independent t- revealed that there was no significant difference between genders in their knowledge towards homosexuality. For the I know about homosexual, t (118) = 0.82, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 2.31 (SD=0.82), and 2.17 (SD=0.83) for female students. For the Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment, t (118) = -0.890, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 3.28 (SD=1.19), and 4.85 (SD=10.57) for female students. For the I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste , t (118) = 0.921, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 2.83 (SD=0.97), and 2.65 (SD=1.03) for female students. For the I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar, t (118) = 0.403, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 3.97 (SD=0.61), and 3.92 (SD=0.76) for female students (see Table 2, pg 19). Table 2 Gender differences Dimension Mean t-Value p-Value Males Females Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians 2.60 (SD=0.81) 2.59 (SD=0.71) 0.080 0.94 Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians 3.29 (SD=0.66) 3.32 (SD=0.54) -0.31 0.76 Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men 3.03 (SD=0.83) 2.72 (SD=0.63) 2.24 0.027* Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men 3.11 (SD=0.80) 3.30 (SD=0.52) -1.520 0.13 I know about homosexual Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar 2.31 (SD=0.82) 3.28 (SD=1.19) 2.83 (SD=0.97) 3.97 (SD=0.61) 2.17 (SD=0.83) 4.85 (SD=10.57) 2.65 (SD=1.03) 3.91 (SD=0.76) 0.82 -0.89 0.92 0.403 0.42 0.38 0.36 0.69 Note: * p Religion Differences toward Homosexual Negative attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between religions have negative attitudes towards lesbian, t (118) = 1.46, n.s., where the mean for negative attitudes toward lesbian for Buddhist is 2.65 (SD=0.76), and 2.42 (SD=0.67) for Chris