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Antigay bias is a serious concern; more than 50% of Americans find homosexuality morally wrong. Although social work as a profession advocates for civil rights for gay male, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) persons, a number of social work students and practitioners may harbor anti-gay biases. Previous research suggests the variables that are related to antigay bias, but reported mean bias scores are relatively low, perhaps indicating a limited problem for the discipline. However, Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a person-centered technique that clusters persons by responses to survey items, can identify proportions and profiles of persons with high levels of antigay bias. Our goal was to examine social work student data utilizing LCA to determine if strong anti-gay bias exists among some students, and to pinpoint the characteristics that are associated with the clustering of these students.
Methods:
A convenience sample of 394 students at a Southeastern university completed an anonymous survey. The sample was predominantly female (83%), single (81.7%), heterosexual (94.4%), and white (70.3%). Measures included the 10-item Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale, demographics (sex, race, religious beliefs, age), beliefs about origins of homosexuality, relationship status, and having a GLB friend/family member. Data were examined for assumptions, and an LCA model was developed using MPlus 5.0 with all 17 variables. Models were run for different numbers of groups to find best fit by examining AIC, BIC, entropy, and Lo-Mendell-Rubin likelihood ratio test. A class indicator variable was used to conduct ANOVAs on descriptive information and scale items.
Results:
The best fit was a three-group model with an entropy value of 0.958. All 10 ATLG items, race, importance of religious beliefs, knowing a GLB person, and perceived origin of homosexuality were significant (alpha<.05). Sex, age, and relationship status did not significantly predict group membership.
The largest group (n=222) thought homosexuality was a natural expression, scored low in anti-gay bias, and acknowledged that society makes homosexuality a problem. This group had the highest proportion of whites (80%), greatest proportion knowing a GLB person (95%), lowest proportion believing that being GLB is a choice (13%), and lowest mean importance of religious beliefs (mean=4.81/10).
The smallest group (n=75) scored highest on anti-gay bias; they believed homosexuality is a perversion and a sin. They had the highest proportion of non-whites (47%), highest proportion believing that being GLB is a choice (54%), lowest proportion knowing a GLB person (81%), and highest mean importance of religious beliefs (mean=8.62/10). The middle group's (n=97) scores hovered around scale midpoints, possibly suggesting unformed opinions or reluctance to express them.
Implications:
This research confirms that 19% of the sample had extremely negative attitudes toward GLB persons, and they clustered by variables suggested by previous research. These social work students are most in need of immediate pedagogical intervention to avoid harming future clients. Further, appropriately targeted intervention for the 25% of students in the middle group may readily move them toward more accepting attitudes, thus increasing their effectiveness as practitioners and improving the well-being of their clients.