This study explores the attitudes of social workers in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adoptions. Race, gender, generation, position and prior LGBT training are factors that can positively or negatively impact social workers’ biases towards LGBT adoptions. Researchers contacted adoption agencies whom agreed to partake in the 26-question survey, including eight demographic questions and an 18 item scale. The current study used an adapted version of the Attitude Toward Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parent Scale (APS) (α = .95). There were 28 survey respondents, however two surveys were discontinued due to incomplete informed consents. A series of Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to find if two independent, yet similar groups of people answered questions significantly different. Results show that men answered two questions significantly different than women participants who answered the same questions, and that administrative workers answered four questions differently than front-line service providers answered the same four questions. Limitations of this study include time; sample size; and an overrepresentation of women, heterosexuals and Caucasians. Further research should be done on this population, because they may directly impact the progression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adoptions.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study explores the attitudes of social workers in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adoptions. Race, gender, generation, position and prior LGBT training are factors that can positively or negatively impact social workers’ biases towards LGBT adoptions. Researchers contacted adoption agencies whom agreed to partake in the 26-question survey, including eight demographic questions and an 18 item scale. The current study used an adapted version of the Attitude Toward Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parent Scale (APS) (α = .95). There were 28 survey respondents, however two surveys were discontinued due to incomplete informed consents. A series of Mann-Whitney <em>U</em> tests were conducted to find if two independent, yet similar groups of people answered questions significantly different. Results show that men answered two questions significantly different than women participants who answered the same questions, and that administrative workers answered four questions differently than front-line service providers answered the same four questions. Limitations of this study include time; sample size; and an overrepresentation of women, heterosexuals and Caucasians. Further research should be done on this population, because they may directly impact the progression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adoptions.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kemper, Christina Nicole","Reynaga, Natalie Jazmin"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Social Work","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Social Work","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lizano, Erica"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:52:45Z","subjects":["adoption","LGBT","biases","attitudes","social work","child welfare"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/149","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lizano, Erica"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kemper, Christina Nicole","Reynaga, Natalie Jazmin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-05-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Social Work"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Social Work"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["adoption","LGBT","biases","attitudes","social work","child welfare"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/149"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study explores the attitudes of social workers in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adoptions. Race, gender, generation, position and prior LGBT training are factors that can positively or negatively impact social workers’ biases towards LGBT adoptions. Researchers contacted adoption agencies whom agreed to partake in the 26-question survey, including eight demographic questions and an 18 item scale. The current study used an adapted version of the Attitude Toward Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parent Scale (APS) (α = .95). There were 28 survey respondents, however two surveys were discontinued due to incomplete informed consents. A series of Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to find if two independent, yet similar groups of people answered questions significantly different. Results show that men answered two questions significantly different than women participants who answered the same questions, and that administrative workers answered four questions differently than front-line service providers answered the same four questions. Limitations of this study include time; sample size; and an overrepresentation of women, heterosexuals and Caucasians. Further research should be done on this population, because they may directly impact the progression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adoptions.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["SOCIAL WORKERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ADOPTIONS"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lizano, Erica"],"dc:creator":["Kemper, Christina Nicole","Reynaga, Natalie Jazmin"],"dc:date.available":["2015-05-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study explores the attitudes of social workers in relation to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adoptions. Race, gender, generation, position and prior LGBT training are factors that can positively or negatively impact social workers’ biases towards LGBT adoptions. Researchers contacted adoption agencies whom agreed to partake in the 26-question survey, including eight demographic questions and an 18 item scale. The current study used an adapted version of the Attitude Toward Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parent Scale (APS) (α = .95). There were 28 survey respondents, however two surveys were discontinued due to incomplete informed consents. A series of Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to find if two independent, yet similar groups of people answered questions significantly different. Results show that men answered two questions significantly different than women participants who answered the same questions, and that administrative workers answered four questions differently than front-line service providers answered the same four questions. Limitations of this study include time; sample size; and an overrepresentation of women, heterosexuals and Caucasians. Further research should be done on this population, because they may directly impact the progression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adoptions.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/149"],"dc:subject":["adoption","LGBT","biases","attitudes","social work","child welfare"],"dc:title":["SOCIAL WORKERS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ADOPTIONS"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Social Work"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Social Work"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:52:45Z"}