Individuals with homophobic views are more likely to have anger issues, display psychotic behavior, and possess other undesirable psychological traits, according to new research published in a recent edition of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
According to Live Science and The Telegraph, a team of researchers led by University of Rome professor Emmanuele Jannini recruited 551 Italian university students ranging in age from 18 to 30, and had them complete questionnaires that asked them, among other things, about their levels of homophobia, depression, anxiety, and psychoticism.
To measure their homophobia, the study authors presented their subjects with 25 statements like “Gay people make me nervous” and “I think homosexual people should not work with children.” The students were asked to rate on a scale of one to five how strongly they agreed or disagreed with each statement, and the anonymous results were them compiled by the researchers.
Students were also asked about their attachment style, which categorized whether they tended to have healthy relationships, experience intimacy issues, become to clingy, or seek closeness while not feeling comfortable about trusting others. In addition, they were asked about their coping strategies and defense mechanisms used when facing unpleasant or frightening situations.
Insecure, angry people more likely to have anti-gay views
Jannini’s team found that people who have homophobic attitudes often also tend to have poorly-developed coping mechanisms, that they possess psychoticism (a personality trait that is marked by hostility, anger, and aggression toward others), have some deep-rooted psychological issues – and that many of them are dealing with their own gender issues.
Overall, the better a person’s overall mental health was judged to be based on their responses to the questionnaires, the less likely he or she was to have homophobic tendencies. People who are uncomfortable in close relationships with others (also known as fearful-avoidant attachment) are significantly more homophobic than those secure with close interpersonal relationships, as were those with higher levels of immature defense mechanisms.
High levels of hostility and anger (psychoticism) were also associated with homophobia, Live Science noted, but the opposite turned out to be true when it came to depression, repression, or hypochondria, each of which were linked with lower levels of homophobia. Jannini’s team told The Telegraph that anti-gay views may be linked to a limited capacity to empathize.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing both the psychologic and psychopathologic characteristics that could have a predictive in homophobia development,” the authors wrote. “In fact, we found that psychoticism represented an important risk factor for homophobia, demonstrating that pathologic personality traits are involved in homophobic attitudes.”
—–
Feature Image: Thinkstock
Comments