Empathy, Perspective-Taking, and the Mere Exposure Effect: Understanding Adolescent Attitudes About Sexual Minorities and Reducing Prejudice Against Sexual-Minority Youth

• In Event: 63.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) youth face considerable discrimination and peer victimization, which has been associated with a number of negative health and educational outcomes. Despite the significant role that peer attitudes play in the experiences of LGBQ youth, few studies have been conducted to understand these attitudes and how they vary based on demographic characteristics, including sex, race and religion, and no research has been conducted examining differences in attitudes between immigrant and native-born populations.

In the present study, I examined the attitudes held by high school students (N = 957) at a racially and ethnically diverse high school in the northeast about homosexuality and gender nonconformity, including (1) how tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality differ based on sex, race, immigrant identity and religious affiliation and (2) the relationship between intergroup contact with LGB people, as measured by having LGB friends, and students’ acceptance of homosexuality and gender nonconformity, and the extent to which the relationship between intergroup contact and tolerance differed based on students’ demographic characteristics. While the students in my sample were fairly tolerant, I found large differences based on sex, race, immigrant identity and religion, particularly when race and immigrant identity were considered together. I also found that intergroup contact played a major role in predicting students’ tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality and gender nonconformity, and that attitude differences based on intergroup contact were particularly pronounced among those subgroups of students with the lowest mean tolerance levels.

As part of the study, students were randomly assigned at the homeroom level into the control group or one of two treatment groups. After initially administering a questionnaire assessing students’ baseline attitudes, I implemented two interventions aimed at increasing tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality and gender nonconformity. Students in the first treatment group were offered the opportunity to engage in one-on-one discussions with me intended to develop empathy for and perspective-taking towards sexual minorities. Students in the second treatment group received repeated exposures to the questionnaire assessing their attitudes about homosexuality and gender nonconformity, based on research indicating that “mere exposure” to a stimulus may increase individuals’ liking for the subject to which they are exposed. I hypothesized that students who participated in the interventions would show increased tolerance for homosexuality and gender nonconformity compared to those students who did not participate in one of the interventions.

The discussion-based intervention had little impact on students’ attitudes about homosexuality and gender nonconformity, although I believe the intervention would benefit from further exploration. Those students who declined the intervention were from subgroups associated with lower tolerance, i.e., those most in need of intervention, suggesting that a voluntary tolerance-building activity may be unlikely to impact these students. Having similar, mandatory discussions conducted by school personnel might have a more meaningful impact for these students.

Author

• Adrienne Marie Mundy-Shephard, Harvard University