Development and Validation of the Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale

Abstract

This research details the development of a new instrument designed to measure attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Participants were 615 heterosexual women and men, drawn from both student and nonstudent adult populations. Four studies were conducted for the purpose of developing the scale and to establish its psychometric properties. The resulting Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale (ATSM) consists of 17 items, has a one-dimensional factor structure, and exhibits a high degree of reliability. Additional analyses established the construct validity of the ATSM where ATSM scores were highly correlated with scores on the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (Herek, 1988). ATSM scores followed predicted correlational patterns with select demographics, including educational attainment, religiosity, and political conservatism. The usefulness of this new measure in survey research is discussed.

Attitudes Toward Parenthood, Partnership, and Social Rights for Diverse Families: Evidence From a Pilot Study in Five Countries

“…Fourth, although further research is required to validate these scales over a wider pool of countries, the results from our preliminary factor analyses suggest respondents distinguish between parenthood, partnership, and social rights across diverse family forms. These distinctive items could thus be integrated into existing questionnaires on attitudes toward diverse families, such as the Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale (Pearl & Galupo, 2007), the Attitudes Toward Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Scale (Costa et al, 2014) or large-scale comparative surveys such as the European Social Survey.…”

Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Marriage in Portugal: Predictors and Scale Validation

“…El objetivo del presente estudio fue validar la versión en portugués de Escala de Actitudes hacia el casamiento entre personas del mismo sexo (ATSM) de Pearl y Galupo (2007). Los participantes fueran 1.402 hombres y mujeres heterosexuales que completaran este cuestionario on-line.…”

“…Lubbers, Jaspers, and Ultee (2009) found that the religiosity of the respondents' parents, as well as their attitudes towards homosexuality, are the strongest determinants of attitudes towards same-sex marriage. Evidence of the importance of religion consistently appears in the literature on attitudes towards same-7 sex marriage, especially when taking into consideration religiosity and church attendance (Brumbaugh, Sanchez, Nock, & Wright, 2008;Pearl, & Galupo, 2007;Schwartz, 2010;Sherkat et al, 2011;Walls, 2010).Other studies identify socio-demographic factors that account for attitudes toward same-sex marriage, such as age and political positioning. For instance, the more elderly or politically right wing respondents (Lewis, & Gossett, 2008) or reporting high levels of transphobia/genderism or traditional heterosexism (Moskowitz, Rieger, & Roloff, 2010) display more negative attitudes towards same-sex marriage.…”

“…Specifically, symbolic issues like the "meaning of the traditional family", "morals of society", "decay of society", "primary purpose of marriage" and so forth, were more likely to tap our targets' concerns than ASSMS items which tap predominantly the material and legal sides of same-sex marriage. Therefore, participants would be more committed, we believed, in responding to the ATSM items than to ASSMS items.The ATSM scale was developed with the purpose of obtaining "a psychometrically sound research instrument relevant to current attitudes toward same-sex marriage" 9 (Pearl & Galupo, 2007; p. 121). This scale originally featured 17 items measuring different aspects of attitudes toward same-sex marriage, specifically beliefs about marriage -its general purpose, and its impact on the strength and morality of family and society; parenting and gender roles; homosexuality and ensuring the civil rights of homosexuals; the relationship between marriage and religion; and financial aspects of marriage.…”

“…The ATSM scale was developed with the purpose of obtaining "a psychometrically sound research instrument relevant to current attitudes toward same-sex marriage" 9 (Pearl & Galupo, 2007; p. 121). This scale originally featured 17 items measuring different aspects of attitudes toward same-sex marriage, specifically beliefs about marriage -its general purpose, and its impact on the strength and morality of family and society; parenting and gender roles; homosexuality and ensuring the civil rights of homosexuals; the relationship between marriage and religion; and financial aspects of marriage.…”