Homophobia encompasses a wide range of negative attitudes toward anyone who is perceived or identified as being homosexual, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. These attitudes can be expressed as contempt, hatred, or even fear, and quite often, many homophobes use religion as a reason for their negative feelings.
This writer was surprised to come across a recent study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that suggested people with negative views on homosexuality also have higher levels of psychoticism, as well as poor coping mechanisms. Now before everyone gets upset, psychoticism does not mean someone is psychotic.
Psychoticism is a personality trait, and people with this trait are often quick to show anger, hostility and aggression toward others. It is often associated with other personality traits, such as extremes of agreeableness and conscientiousness.
Emmanuele Jannini, an endocrinologist and medical sexologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, one of the co-authors of the study said the study does suggest that people who cling to homophobic views also have psychological issues. “The study is opening a new research avenue, where the real disease to study is homophobia,” Jannini told Live Science.
The study pointed out that when we meet someone and form relationships with them, our positive or negative feelings about that person are based on a spectrum of positive and negative emotions. Wondering whether we trust someone or not, or if we feel secure or anxious around them, are some of the ways we judge a relationship.
If these feelings produce anxiety or lean towards more negative feelings about the relationship, we use defense mechanisms to feel more secure about the situation. The researchers used these theories to understand how defense mechanisms play a role in homophobia, as well as how certain psychological disorders might be associated with homophobia.
The actual study used 560 university students between 18 and 30 years of age. After evaluating their mental health status using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), they were given three questionnaires to complete. The questionnaires deciphered degrees of homophobia, coping mechanisms and psychological pathology.
In their findings, the researchers found that homophobia was more likely to be reported in men. Those that displayed homophobia were more likely to display immature defense mechanisms, suggesting these people exhibited problematic approaches to uncomfortable social situations.
The most important and perhaps, surprising discovery researchers found was the evidence for psychological traits among homophobes. These people were more apt to display psychoticism, and in extreme cases, this could be an indicator of psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia and some personality disorders.
Jannini believes the study confirms that homosexuality is not the problem. The real issue is homophobes. “After discussing for centuries if homosexuality is to be considered a disease, for the first time we demonstrated that the real disease to be cured is homophobia, associated with potentially severe psychopathologies,” he said.
