Temas em Psicologia
Print version ISSN 1413-389X
Abstract
CERQUEIRA-SANTOS, Elder; CESAR AUGUSTO DE SA G.; NUNES, Lucas Menezes and SILVEIRA, Aline Pompeu. Internalized homophobia and religiosity among homosexual couples. Temas psicol. [online]. 2017, vol.25, n.2, pp.691-702. ISSN 1413-389X. https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2017.2-15.
The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between religiosity and the "internalized homophobia" construct. The mean hypothesis is that religiosity is one of the strongest negative variables associated with moral arguments about sexual minorities, being part of the personal construction who rejects its own homosexuality. The study included 94 people, 49 men and 45 women living in a stable relationship with a same sex partner. The instrument investigated four dimensions: sociodemographic data (age, sex, income, education, religion, relationship time extension, time living together, occupation and children), religiosity, marital satisfaction and internalized homophobia. Data was collected in person with a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with t test, Pearson correlation and linear regression with internalized homophobia. The results showed higher levels of internalized homophobia among the most religious groups, confirming the initial hypothesis. The final linear regression model showed how variables such as the effect of religiosity, relationship time, the fact of having children and marital satisfaction associate with internalized homophobia. The data indicated the importance of religious behaviors in influencing the experience of sexuality. It is argued that prejudice against sexual minorities can be introjected by individuals belonging to the minority group, which causes suffering.
Keywords : Homophobia; religiosity; prejudice.