Effects of alcohol and sexual prejudice on aggression toward sexual minorities.

Abstract

Objective This study was the first to test the moderating effect of acute alcohol intoxication on the relation between heterosexual men’s sexual prejudice and perpetration of aggression toward gay men and lesbians. Method Participants were 320 heterosexual men aged 21-30 recruited from a large southeastern United States city. Participants completed a measure of prejudice toward sexual minorities and were randomly assigned to one of eight experimental groups within a 2 (Beverage: Alcohol, No-Alcohol Control) × 2 (Opponent Gender: Male, Female) × 2 (Opponent Sexual Orientation: Homosexual, Heterosexual) design. Following beverage consumption, participants were provoked via reception of electric shocks from a fictitious opponent. Participants’ physical aggression was measured using a shock-based aggression task. Results The association between sexual prejudice and aggression toward the gay male opponent was stronger among intoxicated, relative to sober, participants. This pattern of association was not observed among participants who competed against the heterosexual male, heterosexual female, or lesbian opponent. Conclusions Findings provide the first experimental evidence that alcohol intoxication moderates sexually-prejudiced aggression toward gay men. These data offer a first step toward understanding how alcohol facilitates bias-motivated aggression. Such knowledge contributes to the empirical foundation needed to guide the development of interventions for alcohol-related aggression toward sexual minorities.

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Hate-Motivated Behavior Checklist (HMBC)

“…It is noteworthy that all forms of measured prejudice displayed small significant associations, supporting the idea that prejudice should always be considered when trying to understand HMB. Antigay aggression literature mirrors this idea; antigay prejudice is commonly associated with antigay behavior, but is influenced by other factors (e.g., alcohol use; Franklin, 2000;Parrott et al, 2011;Parrott & Lisco, 2015). American and general minority identity endorsements were unrelated to HMB.…”

“…Regarding pathways to antigay violence, Parrott (2008) found several factors that interact to cause a series of internal states (e.g., negative emotion), which subsequently yield perceptions shaping impulsive (e.g., antigay aggression) or cognitive (e.g., self-restraint) reactions. Moreover, two studies (i.e., Parrott et al, 2011;Parrott & Lisco, 2015) have shown support for the roles of antigay prejudice, masculine gender role stress, and adherence to antifeminine gender norms in antigay violence. A broader supposition is that subtypes of prejudice (e.g., racism, anti-immigrant beliefs) may also drive HMB toward such groups.…”

“…We explored additional demographic correlates as well. Following the literature indicating prejudice may be implicated in the commission of HMB (e.g., Parrott, 2008;Parrott & Lisco, 2015), we expected the following types of prejudice to be positively associated with HMB: racism, sexism, antigay prejudice, antilesbian prejudice, and anti-immigrant beliefs. As majority group identity may drive actions toward outgroups (e.g., , we expected endorsement of American identity to be positively associated with higher HMB.…”

Substance-Use Disorders and Violence

“…Indeed, substance-intoxicated states could cause disinhibition, misjudgement, but also aggressiveness and violent behaviours (WHO, 2002;Liakoni et al, 2018). Among the others, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine have been identified as the substances more associated with sexual violence events (Grisso et al, 1999;Crane et al, 2015;Parrott and Lisco, 2015;Liakoni et al, 2018). At times, assaulters could deliberately intoxicate the victim with alcohol or drugs, such as gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB; Corkery et al, 2015), ketamine (Schifano et al, 2008), flunitrazepam or other hypnotics (Giorgetti et al, 2017;Watts and Zimmerman, 2002).…”

Interventions to Reduce Blatant and Subtle Sexual Orientation‐ and Gender Identity Prejudice (SOGIP): Current Knowledge and Future Directions

“…Aggression: Adapted version of the Taylor aggression paradigm (Parrot & Lisco, 2015;Parrot, 2009) Heterosexual participants can administer electrical shocks to a fictitious homosexual opponent. Physical aggression is defined as the intensity and duration of the shocks selected.…”