“Pattern Matters”: a Latent Class Analysis of Internet Use and Users’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in China

By using the nationally representative dataset of China Labor-force Dynamics Survey, this paper explored the relationship between internet-based social media use and Chinese people's homosexuality inclusion. Addressing endogeneity by using an instrumental variable approach, the results of instrumental variable-ordered probit model indicated that individuals' internet-based social media use had a positive and significant association with their homosexuality inclusion. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis revealed that the heterogeneous effects of internet-based social media use on homosexuality inclusion caused by income, gender, and region. The homosexuality inclusion of respondents with higher income, respondents of female gender, and respondents located in eastern region of China was found to be more evidently associated with internet-based social media use. The functional mechanism analysis suggested that the number of respondents' LGBT friends mediated the overall relationship between internet-based social media use and homosexuality inclusion. The robustness check showed that the results were robust cross different models. The findings in this paper provide new evidence that the effect of information technology development on individual perception and behavior in Chinese context.

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridge of Rainbow: Association Between Internet-Based Social Media Use and Homosexuality Inclusion in China

Yao

Yang

2022

“…Other studies suggested that social media might work as a positive tool for promoting inclusivity and acceptance of sexual and gender minorities ( Xie and Peng, 2018 ). However, Liang et al (2022) found that the relationship between social media use and attitudes toward homosexuality depends on users’ type, i.e., active (users who use social media for all activities), pragmatic (users who use social media for instrumental purpose), and traditional (individuals who reported lower use of social media). Finally, their results suggested that active and pragmatic users of social media developed more positive views of homosexuality compared to traditional users.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern homophobia among heterosexual Romanian adults: the roles of sexual orientation beliefs, religiosity, perceived social roles, and social media use

Lăzărescu,

Karner-Hutuleac,

Maftei

2023

The present study aimed to examine some potential predictors of homophobia against lesbians and gay individuals. Our sample comprised 722 heterosexual participants aged 18–74, mostly women (self-reported gender; 224 men and 498 women) with various educational backgrounds (i.e., High School, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees). Participants filled in self-reported scales measuring sexual orientation beliefs (incremental vs. entity views), religiosity, social media use, and perceived gender-transcendent social roles. Correlation analyses and multiple regression models were computed separately for men and women. For all participants, homophobia against lesbians (HAL) was negatively associated with participants’ age, religiosity, and gender-transcendent social roles and positively with incremental views about sexuality. However, only in the case of women was HAL positively related to social media use. Next, for both men and women, homophobia against gay individuals (HAG) was negatively related to age, religiosity, and gender-transcendent social roles. However, only in the case of women, HAG was positively related to social media use online and incremental views about sexuality. In the case of men, the most significant predictor of HAL was the perceived gender-transcendent social roles and HAG – perceived gender-linked social roles. For women, perceived gender-linked social roles were the most significant predictor of both HAL and HAG. Results are discussed regarding their use for interventions aimed at reducing homophobia among heterosexual individuals.

“…Research focussing on particular locations (e.g., Beijing) or groups of select individuals (e.g., college students) have identified certain individual factors (e.g., gender, age, education level) that influence the attitudes toward IWLG in the Chinese mainland ( Lin et al, 2016 ; Xie and Peng, 2018 ; Hu and Li, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Zhou and Hu, 2020 ; Lin and Wang, 2021 ; Liang et al, 2022 ; Zheng et al, 2022 ). However, China is a country that has 34 provincial-level administrative divisions, which vary significantly with respect to culture, economic development, and public opinion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status quo and predictors of Weibo users’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland: Analysis based on supervised machine learning and provincial panel data

Zheng

Guo²,

Wang³

et al. 2023

IntroductionPublic attitudes toward consensual same-sex relations are crucial to lesbians’ and gay men’s rights and society’s well-being, but research addressing this topic in China is limited. We comprehensively explored the current status and predictors of Weibo users’ attitudes toward individuals who are lesbian or gay (IWLG) at the provincial level in the Chinese mainland.MethodsNatural language processing and machine learning techniques were incorporated to analyze 1,934,008 Weibo posts from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2020, to evaluate Weibo users’ expressed attitudes toward IWLG in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland guided by the ABC Model of attitude.ResultsAlthough the general attitudes, feelings, and support for the rights of Weibo users toward IWLG among different provinces were relatively positive, knowledge about IWLG was noticeably inaccurate. Economic development and educational level positively predicted certain aspects of attitudes at the provincial level.ConclusionWeibo users from different provinces are generally supportive and accepting of people who are gay and the rights of the gay community. However, considerable misconceptions and inaccurate knowledge of IWLG surfaced in Weibo users’ posts. Economic development and educational level were important predictors of specific attitudes toward IWLG at the provincial level. Increased efforts to address the unbalanced and insufficient development between different provinces could help reduce the public’s prejudice, stigma, and discrimination toward IWLG. Policies that facilitate greater implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education sequentially and effectively are suggested as well.