Does it mean more positive or more negative? A study on central attitudes toward homosexuality

Attitudes toward homosexuality have a significant impact on the well-being of sexual minority populations. Although prior research has identified the multidimensional nature of attitudes toward homosexuality, the central components within the attitudinal structures remain underexplored. This study aimed to examine the central attitudes toward homosexuality from the perspective of both attitudinal measurement and attitudinal inference.

The current study comprises two complementary studies. By assessing 666 participants' attitudes toward homosexuality, study 1 utilized complex network analysis to identify central components within the overall attitudinal network. Study 2 adopted an attitudinal inference design to further investigate the central factors of attitudes toward homosexuality, using importance and representativeness as key indicators of centrality. Paired-sample t-tests and two-way ANOVA were conducted to investigate the central factor in inferring negative and positive attitudes toward homosexuality.

Our results of study 1 showed that the component reflecting behavioral tendencies related to social interactions is the most central in the attitudinal network. Findings of study 2 revealed that prejudice against homosexuality factor was more central than preference for homosexuality factor when inferring negative attitudes, whereas preference for heterosexuality factor was more central than prejudice against homosexuality factor when inferring positive attitudes.

This study advances our understanding of attitudinal centrality in measuring and inferring attitudes toward homosexuality, which can offer nuanced intervention targets to reduce homonegativity.