Gender-Role Attitudes 77their heterosexual peers and that percep-
tions of discrimination accounted for these
differences (Almeida et al., 2009). In a study
of seventh and eighth graders, LGBT youth
had more depressive symptoms and greater
drug usage than their heterosexual counter-
parts,onlywhen they perceived the school
as unsupportive and only when they were
teased about being gay (Birkett, Espelage, &
Koenig, 2009). National survey data of LGBT
youth show that males face more harassment
than females and younger youth face more
harassment than older youth (Kosciw, Grey-
tak, & Diaz, 2009). LGBTs who live in rural
areas and in communities with lower levels of
education achievement also face more hostil-
ity. International data has connected homo-
phobic attitudes and behavior with suicide
and alcohol abuse among LGBT youth
(McDermott, Roen, & Scourfield, 2008).
LGBT adults, too, face victimization. In
a one-week daily diary study of LGBT adults,
heterosexual hassles were associated with
anger and anxiety on a daily basis and with
depressed mood and lowered self-esteem
for those who most strongly identified with
their sexual orientation (Swim, Johnston, &
Pearson, 2009). More severe than hetero-
sexual hassles are heterosexual hate crimes.
Homosexuals and bisexuals comprise 17% of
the victims of hate crime (U.S. Department
of Justice, 2008).
Transphobiais defined as a revul-
sion and irrational fear of transgendered
and transsexual persons, cross-dressers, and
feminine men and masculine women. Al-
though transphobia is positively correlated
with homophobia (Nagoshi et al., 2008), it is
a negative attitude toward a broader group
of people based on gender concerns rather
than only sexual orientation. A scale to mea-
sure transphobia is shown in Table 3.3. Men
score higher than women on transphobia,beliefs are associated with negative attitudes
toward homosexuals.
Participation in sports also has been
connected to homophobia, but the connection
differs for females and males. Male athletes
might be expected to be the most homopho-
bic because athletics is viewed as a way to vali-
date masculinity and homosexuals are viewed
as a threat to masculinity. For females, how-
ever, participation in athletics is sometimes
stigmatized by its connection to lesbianism.
One study examined the connection between
sports participation and homophobia among
high school students (Osborne & Wagner,
2007). For males, participation in core sports
(i.e., the sports most strongly connected to
masculinity like football, basketball, and soc-
cer) was strongly related to homophobia but
participation in sports in general was not. For
females, sports participation was unrelated to
homophobia.
Homophobic attitudes can manifest
themselves in terms of behavior—specifically,
what are known asheterosexual hassles—that
is, jokes, insults, and antigay comments or
behaviors by others. Heterosexual hassles
are particular potent during middle school
and high school (Tharinger, 2008). One rea-
son LGBT (lesbians, gay, bisexual, and trans-
gendered) high school students may receive
poorer grades than heterosexuals is that they
skip school to avoid heterosexual hassles and
threats to safety (Stader & Graca, 2007). In
2009, a special issue of theJournalofYouth
and Adolescencewas devoted to studying the
lives of LGBT youth (Horn, Kosciw, & Rus-
sell, 2009). The authors of the articles note the
high prevalence of harassment and victimiza-
tion in schools and the lack of a response on
the part of schools to address this problem.
One study of LGBT high school students
showed that those students had more depres-
sive symptoms and suicidal ideation thanM03_HELG0185_04_SE_C03.indd 77 6/21/11 12:22 PM