Sexual Prejudice Among Barbadian University Students

Abstract

The level of sexual prejudice on university campuses has implications for the health and well-being of gay and lesbian students, and research on sexual prejudice in the Eastern Caribbean is extremely limited. This study assesses the individual attitudes of 251 Barbadian students toward lesbian and gay people using two psychometric inventories. It also examines differences in attitudes as a function of demographic variables including gender, religiosity, and personal acquaintance with lesbian or gay people. The Barbadian students evidenced diverse attitudes, with the average student displaying a moderate amount of sexual prejudice toward lesbian and gay people. Religiosity predicted more negative attitudes toward both lesbians and gay men. Being male predicted more sexual prejudice against gay men, but not against lesbians. Finally, personal acquaintance with a gay or lesbian person did not have a statistically significant relationship with sexual prejudice. This study is among the first of its kind and may serve as a guide to other researchers seeking to further explore attitudes toward lesbian and gay people among Eastern Caribbean students or among Barbadians in general.

Protecting the fabric of society? Heterosexual views on the usefulness of the anti-gay laws in Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago

“…The extent to which these findings can be applied to the countries within the Commonwealth Caribbean 1 (specifically, those under investigation in this study) has not been well established. Only a small body of work has been published on anti-gay bias in the Caribbean, most of which tends to be qualitative/ethnographic in nature (Gromer et al 2013).…”

“…In general, these reports portray citizens in the Commonwealth Caribbean as intolerant of gay men and lesbians (Gromer et al 2013). Given the antigay laws in the region, this claim seems plausible.…”

Protecting the fabric of society? Heterosexual views on the usefulness of the anti-gay laws in Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago

“…The extent to which these findings can be applied to the countries within the Commonwealth Caribbean 1 (specifically, those under investigation in this study) has not been well established. Only a small body of work has been published on anti-gay bias in the Caribbean, most of which tends to be qualitative/ethnographic in nature (Gromer et al 2013). …”

“…In general, these reports portray citizens in the Commonwealth Caribbean as intolerant of gay men and lesbians (Gromer et al 2013). Given the antigay laws in the region, this claim seems plausible.…”

“…In fact, many of the quantitative studies that do exist are sampled predominantly from university bodies. Gromer et al (2013), for instance, studied attitudes towards gay men using a convenience sample of university students in Barbados. Gromer et al did not find a relationship between contact with gay men or lesbians and sexual prejudice.…”