Social Relationship Attitudes of Student-athletes toward Heterosexual, Gay, and Lesbian Peers in Taiwan

Abstract

This study investigated Taiwanese student-athletes’ social relationship attitudes toward heterosexual, gay, and lesbian peers in Taiwan. Participants were 192 male and 156 female heterosexual student-athletes from a sports university in Taiwan. The Social Relationship Attitudes toward Heterosexual/Gay/Lesbian Peers scales were used to measure participants’ attitudes toward their peers with different sexual orientations. The results indicate that Taiwanese heterosexual student–athletes’ social relationship attitudes toward peers are dependent on both student gender and the sexual orientation of the target. Male student-athletes’ social relationship attitudes toward gays and lesbians are more negative compared to female student-athletes across personal, societal, and moral domains. Both male and female student-athletes’ social relationship attitudes toward gays are more negative compared to their attitudes toward lesbians in the personal and societal domains. Male student-athletes indicate lower sympathy scores for gays than for lesbians. Females show no difference in their sympathy scores for peers with different sexual orientations.