Personal constructs and homosexual stress

Evaluated a personal-construct approach to the assessment of the potential for homosexual threat (homosexual stress). The measure, modified from personal construct research on death threat, was tested with 20 male and 20 female undergraduates. Those Ss who were more stressed by homosexuality had more negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Further, those Ss with the most negative attitudes toward homosexuals were those who saw homosexuality as invalidating more important constructs. Males who viewed homosexuality as more stressful tended to construe homosexuality as a more personally meaningful issue; females showed the opposite tendency. The homosexual stress measure was independent of authoritarianism (California F Scale) and was not highly related to Religious Fundamentalism Scale scores. (22 ref)