Self-Defense, Sexism, and Etiological Beliefs: Predictors of Attitudes toward Gay and Lesbian Adoption

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

While attitudes toward gay and lesbian civil rights issues have generally become more positive, attitudes regarding the rights of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children are relatively more negative. It is proposed that attitudes toward homosexual adoption are rooted in self-protective defense mechanisms, sexism, and beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation. A sample of Introductory Psychology students was asked to read one of three adoption scenarios. The three scenarios were identical except that the gender composition of the candidate couple was manipulated (i.e., heterosexual couple, gay male couple, or lesbian couple). Results for men and women were analyzed separately because previous evidence suggests that men and women process attitudes related to sexual orientation differently. Men's attitudes toward homosexual adoption were predicted by self-protective defense mechanisms, beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation, and hostile sexism; women's attitudes were predicted by beliefs about the etiology of sexual orientation, self-protective defense mechanisms, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism. The importance of a theoretical understanding of the determinants of attitudes toward gay and lesbian adoption and the implications of the current theory for professionals working with gay or lesbian adoption candidates are discussed.