Religious Fundamentalism, Empathy, and Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gays Within the Therapeutic Relationship

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between religious fundamentalism, empathy, and attitudes toward lesbians and gays in counselor trainees enrolled in CACREP accredited, master's level counselor education programs. A geographically stratified random sample was used to obtain a sample of 149 unlicensed counseling master students. The individuals took part in four different questionnaires: The Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale, The Basic Empathy Scale, The Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gays Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. A correlational analysis and a regression analysis were used to analyze the data.Results of the study indicated that there was not a statistically significant relationship between religious fundamentalism and empathy in counselor trainees. The relationship between religious fundamentalism and empathy did predict attitudes toward lesbians and gays, but only in the presence of religious fundamentalism. This study supports the research proposed by Duriez (2004) which suggested that there is not a relationship between religious fundamentalism and empathy. Furthermore, this research supports the literature that suggests that religious fundamentalism does predict attitudes towards sexual minorities.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education (Education)

Grantor dc:publisher

Ohio University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Procter, Jonathan E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Robinson, Mona

• Counseling Education
• Religious Fundamentalism
• Empathy
• Counselor Trainees
• Counselor Education
• Sexual Minorities

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1365024252

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:ohiou1365024252