The Development of Judgments and Beliefs about Homosexuality

This study assessed children's (5-year-olds, 7-8-year-olds, and 10-11-year-olds), adolescents' (13-14-year-olds), and their parents' beliefs about same-sex relationships. In particular, participants' beliefs about the acceptability and legal regulation of homosexuality, their beliefs about tolerating someone with anti-gay attitudes and excluding someone on the basis of his/her sexual orientation, and finally, their essentialist beliefs about homosexuality (i.e., whether they believe sexual orientation is biologically or socially/environmentally determined) were explored. Results revealed age differences in the acceptability of same-sex relationships, with older participants holding more positive attitudes, justified by references to personal choice and moral reasoning. Adults were more tolerant of someone holding a negative belief about homosexuality than the younger participants, and both the adults and the 5-year-olds were more tolerant of someone holding a negative belief about homosexuality and expressing this belief than the other participants. The 5-year-olds were also more accepting of parents acting on this belief by restricting a child's activities. There was no association between parents' attitudes and their children's. In terms of essentialist beliefs, with age, participants were more likely to believe that homosexuality is biologically determined and this belief was generally correlated with more positive attitudes. The findings reveal that while some age differences were found in the development of attitudes about homosexuality, many scenarios revealed no age differences supporting the notion that children are not inherently more prejudiced than adults.

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Spence, Sarah Frances

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles, C Helwig

• Moral Development
• Sexual Prejudice
• Social Domain Theory

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/68234

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/68234