Social Work Educators’ Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians: A National Assessment

Abstract

A sample of 927 U.S. social work educators expressed limited negative attitudes toward lesbians and slightly more negative attitudes toward gay men in this cross-sectional, national study using standardized survey instruments with proven psychometric properties. Faculty most likely to express negative attitudes toward lesbians included those employed at a religiously affiliated university (whether sectarian or non-sectarian), identifying as African-American and male, working in an urban or suburban setting (rather than a rural one), and having probationary tenure-track status. These individual and institutional characteristics accounted for 7.8% of the variance in social work educators' negative attitudes toward lesbians. Faculty most likely to express negative attitudes toward gay men included those identifying as African-American, employed at a religiously affiliated university, identifying as heterosexual and male. These variables explained 12.4% of the variance in social work educators' negative attitudes toward gay men. Implications for social work education are addressed and suggestions generated regarding how social work educators and their educational programs can ensure that they are preparing competent, unbiased practitioners who can advance social justice and reduce oppression among gay and lesbian clients.

Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbian Women Among Heterosexual Social Work Faculty

“…While many general population studies find women to express more positive attitudes toward sexual minorities than men (Herek & Capitanio, 1999;Hinrichs & Rosenberg, 2002;Kite & Whitley, 1996;Schellenberg, Hirt, & Sears, 2009;Whitley, Childs, & Collins, 2011), no significant differences were found among social workers (Berkman & Zinberg, 1997;Crisp, 2007;Green, 2005;Wisniewski & Toomey, 1987) and results among faculty have been mixed (Einbinder et al, 2012;Woodford et al, 2012a). …”

“…Recent studies have examined the covariates of sexual prejudice among social work faculty in the United States (Einbinder et al, 2012;Dessel et al, 2012;Woodford et al, 2012a), with only one study examining sex-specific attitudes (Einbinder et al, 2012). Consistently, regardless of the outcome measures used, low rates of sexual prejudice have been documented.…”

“…While often grouped together and associated with one another, the nature of attitudes about sexual minorities may differ compared to those concerning transgender people (Nagoshi, Adams, Terrell, Hill, Brzuzy, & Nagoshi, 2008). The third study (Einbinder et al, 2012) used the psychometrically sound sex-specific subscales of the Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale (Herek, 1988); however, issues exist with this scale. The ATLG has been described as "anachronistic" in that it assesses "old-fashioned" prejudice that may not capture the nature of contemporary biases toward sexual minorities (Morrison & Morrison, 2002).…”

“…Two of the studies investigated the influence of sexual minority status and found sexual minority faculty to be significantly less prejudiced than their heterosexual counterparts (Einbinder et al, 2012;Woodford et al, 2012a). Moreover, the ATLG (Herek, 1988) used by Einbinder and colleagues was specifically designed to evaluate sexual prejudice among heterosexuals.…”

“…Sexual prejudice, or the negative feelings and intolerant views propelled against gay and lesbian individuals, underlies the social stratification of resources and rights based on sexual orientation (Herek, 2004) and may influence contemporary support for same-sex marriage and other civil or human rights affecting sexual minorities (Kitzinger & Wilkinson, 2003;Woodford, Chonody, Scherrer, Silverchanz, & Kulick, 2012b). Although at considerably lower levels than the general public, sexual prejudice has been documented among social workers (Berkman & Zinberg, 1997;Crisp, 2007;Green, 2005;Krieglstein, 2003;Wisniewski & Toomey, 1987), social work students (e.g., Cluse-Tolar, Lambert, Ventura, & Pasupuleti, 2004;Raiz & Saltzburg, 2007;Chonody, Siebert, & Rutledge, 2009;Newman, Dannenfelser, & Benishek, 2002), and social work faculty (Dessel, Woodford, & Gutiérrez, 2012;Einbinder, Fiechter, Sheridan, & Miller, 2012;Fredricksen-Goldsen, Woodford, Luke, & Gutiérrez, 2011;Woodford, Brennan, Gutiérrez, & Luke, 2012a). Some studies find more negatively biased attitudes exist toward gay men than lesbian women (Einbinder et al, 2012, Herek, 1988Raja & Stokes, 1998).…”