How Does Attending a Catholic University Influence Students' Attitudes Toward LGBTQ Rights?

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Contemporary Issues in Catholic Education

Abstract

College attendance has broadly been shown to increase people’s acceptance of LGBTQ people, but these attitudes seem to be shaped differently at religiously affiliated institutions than secular ones. As attendance at Catholic universities also tends to improve students’ perceptions of LGBTQ people, this study sought to understand how attending a Catholic university affects students’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage compared to students at other types of schools. Using a national longitudinal dataset, this study employed hierarchical linear modeling to estimate the effect of institution- and individual-level factors on student attitudes. Students who attend Catholic universities tend to support same-sex marriage more than those at Evangelical institutions, especially heterosexual college students.

Author

• Bryce Edward Hughes, Montana State University