Homophobic attitudes may say a lot about the person who holds them, new research suggests. A new study of university students in Italy revealed that people who have strongly negative views of gay people also have higher levels of psychoticism and inappropriate coping mechanisms than those who are accepting of homosexuality.
That doesn't mean that homophobic people are psychotic. Psychoticism is a personality trait marked by hostility, anger and aggression toward others. The study suggests that people who cling to homophobic views have some psychological issues. The study is opening a new research avenue, where the real disease to study is homophobia.
Earlier research has found homophobia to be a complex subject, with some studies suggesting that people with visceral negative reactions to gays and lesbians often harbor same-sex desires themselves Other studies, though, contest that idea, and suggest that homophobic people are truly averse to same-sex attraction. Other factors--such as religion, sensitivity to disgust, hyper-masculinity and misogyny--seem to play a role in anti-gay beliefs.
The first research on homophobia was done by Jannini and his colleagues. Their findings were written up in the Journal of Sexual Medicine published September 8, 2015. No one had ever looked at the mental health or psychopathology of homophobic people. In the new study, the researchers asked 551 Italian university students, ranging in age from 18 to 30, to fill out questionnaires on their levels of homophobia as well as their psychopathology, including levels of depression, anxiety and psychoticism. The homophobia scale required participants to rate how strongly they agree or disagree with 25 statements.
The students also answered questions about their attachment style, which categorizes how people approach relationships. The "healthy" attachment style is known as secure attachment, in which people feel comfortable getting close to others and having others get close to them. People who are insecurely attached, on the other hand, might avoid intimacy, become too clingy or desire closeness but feel uncomfortable trusting others.
Finally, the students answered questions about their coping strategies--defense mechanisms people use when they fact unpleasant or scary situations. Defense mechanisms can be healthy ("mature") or unhealthy ("immature").
Overall, the better the mental health of the person (based on the responses to the questionnaire), the less likely he or she was to be homophobic, the researchers found. People with "fearful-avoidant" attachment styles, who tend to feel uncomfortable in close relationships with others were significantly more homophobic than those who were secure with close relationships. The researchers also found that people with higher levels of immature defense mechanisms were more homophobic than those with mature defense mechanisms.
High levels of hostility and anger, measured as psychoticism, were also linked to homophobia, the researchers found. But other mental health issues had the opposite association: Depression and neurotic defense mechanisms were linked with lower levels of homophobia.
The findings position homophobia as a trait more often seen in dysfunctional personalities, but personality isn't the whole story. Homophobia is a "culture-induced disease" which interplay with factors like religion and conservative values.
