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Abstract

Homonegativity (i.e., prejudiced attitudes towards sexual minorities, Morrison et al., 1999) is associated with stricter gender roles (Basow & Johnson, 2000; Tornello & Matsick, 2020) mainly in men, and is less understood in women (Bosson et al., 2009; Vandello et al., 2008). This study investigates how cisgender individuals’ self-perceptions and self-concepts of gender roles relate to homonegativity. We hypothesized that men would have greater homonegativity than women, and that greater socially-expected gender role expression would predict homonegativity in both genders. Two-hundred-eighty-eight participants, predominantly white (84.7%), women (n = 227), freshman (58.7%) college students (Mage = 19.33, SD = 2.9), completed the Traditional Masculinity-Femininity Scale (Kachel et al., 2016), Gender Role Inventory (Weaver & Sargent, 2007), Modern Homonegativity (Morrison & Morrison, 2002), and “Old-Fashioned” Homonegativity (Morrison et al., 1999) scales during the 2023 semesters. Independent t-tests showed that women had greater feminine expression and lower masculine expression compared to men (all t’s < 4.223, all p’s <.001), with one exception in masculine self-perceptions (t = 1.213, p = .113). Men were higher than women in homonegativity (all t’s > 3.764, all p’s < .001). Among women, only masculine expression through self-perceptions related to homonegativity (r = .13, p = .045), with no other associations to gender roles found (all r’s < .121, all p’s > .069). Among men, increased feminine self-perceptions and self-concepts negatively related to homonegativity (all r’s > -.346, all p’s < .01). Men’s increased masculine self-concepts and self-perceptions positively related to homonegativity (all r’s > .407, all p’s < .001), with two exceptions in masculine self-perceptions (all r’s < .202, all p’s > .118). These findings suggest that gender roles may play an important role in the development of homonegativity through gendered attitudes. Further analyzing men’s expression of femininity and its relation to homonegativity could be key to developing interventions for less socially-mediated gender role expression to improve men’s health and tolerance to sexual minorities.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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