title: Perception of homosexuality among Turkish university students: the roles of labels, gender, and prior contact.
abstract: The author examined three questions: (a) What constitutes participants' causal attributions for the labels "gay," "lesbian," and "homosexual"?; (b) Do participants' attitudes vary by labels?; and (c) Do participants' attitudes vary with previous social contact with homosexuals? Participants were 334 university students (140 women, 194 men). Three labels--"gay," "lesbian," and "homosexual"--served as probes. The author investigated participants' attributions toward causes of homosexuality with Principal-Component Analysis (PCA) and obtained 4 components: disorder, problems, modeling or sensation seeking, and preference. The author found the most negative attitudes toward the label "gay." Finally, participants who had previous contact with homosexual people held more positive attitudes toward homosexuality than did the others. The author also obtained some gender differences. The author discussed the results in the light of the current literature.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, ELYADAL Research Laboratory, Başkent University Ankara, Turkey. okanc@baskent.edu.tr
authors.forename: Okan Cem
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Cirakoğlu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities