College major, gender and heterosexism reconsidered under more controlled conditions

To test the hypothesis that under controlled conditions respondent's gender and college major are related to heterosexism, four groups (n = 40 each)-male psychology majors, female psychology majors, male non-psychology majors, and female non-psychology majors-were formed from an initial sample of convenience (N = 1,947) of urban university students. Respondents were matched for age, race, college level, closeness of relationships to lesbian and gay men, religious affiliation, and religious attendance. Each student was requested to complete the Herek Attitude Scale towards Lesbians and Gay Men and these scores were subjected to a three factor (2x2x2) mixed analysis of variance. The three factors were respondent's gender, respondent's college major, and target's gender with repeated measures on target's gender. A significant respondent's gender by target's gender F(1/156) = 50.59, p < .001 interaction was observed. Male respondent's attitude toward gay males was significantly more negative than that of the other groups which did not differ significantly from one another. Significant main effects due to respondent's gender F(1/156) = 11.9, p < .001 and target's gender F(1/156) = 43.1, p < .001 were also observed. No significant college major effect F(1/156) = 1.60, p >.05 or interaction was found.