Measuring homonegativity: A psychometric analysis.

Abstract

Although several good instruments have been developed to measure homonegativity, a comparative psychometric analysis of such instruments has not been published since Schwanberg (1993). The current investigation draws on several samples (including an annual survey of introductory human sexuality students) to examine the psychometric properties of 3 commonly used measures of homonegativity: Hudson and Ricketts' (1980) Index of Homophobia, Herek's (1984, 1988) Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men, and Morrison and Morrison's (2002) Modern Homonegativity Scale. The validity of each instrument was assessed, and each demonstrated approximately normally distributed data, high reliability, and a unidimensional factor structure. The 3 instruments are strongly intercorrelated and demonstrate a high degree of both convergent and discriminant validity. It is suggested that the Modern Homonegativity Scale has a slight advantage because it results in somewhat more normally distributed data than the other 2 scales.