title: Religion, religiosity, and the attitudes toward homosexuality--a multilevel analysis of 79 countries.
abstract: Although attitudes toward homosexuality have become more liberal, particularly in industrialized Western countries, there is still a great deal of variance in terms of worldwide levels of homonegativity. Using data from the two most recent waves of the World Values Survey (1999-2004, 2005-2009), this article seeks to explain this variance by means of a multilevel analysis of 79 countries. We include characteristics on the individual level, as age or gender, as well as aggregate variables linked to specificities of the nation-states. In particular, we focus on the religious denomination of a person and her religiosity to explain her attitude toward homosexuality. We find clear differences in levels of homonegativity among the followers of the individual religions.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Political Science , University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jäckle
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wenzelburger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D063509:Homophobia; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012067:Religion; D066269:Social Theory; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: World Value Survey; attitudes; homophobia; homosexuality; multilevel analysis; religion; religiosity