Applying Multilevel Modeling to Understand Individual and Cross-Cultural Variations in Attitudes Toward Homosexual People Across 28 European Countries

Bibliographic Data

ID7843005
AuthorsCandice D Donaldson (0000-0002-2221-0485, Claremont Graduate University, CA, USA, corresponding author), Lindsay M Handren (Claremont Graduate University, CA, USA), Lindsay Handren (Claremont Graduate University), Andrew Lac (0000-0002-8035-3628, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA)
Year2017
Volume48
Issue1
Pages93-112
Publication date2017-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0221 • E-ISSN: 1552-5422
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022022116672488
OpenAlexW2528333367
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited63

Individual and cross-cultural factors associated with attitudes toward homosexual people were examined in this study. Using cross-sectional data from the sixth biennial European Social Survey, which represents 36,959 individuals nested within 28 European countries, successive nested models were tested using multilevel modeling (MLM). Results found that attitudes varied cross-culturally as a function of people’s country of residence—this clustering effect was controlled for in all subsequent models. Individual-level predictors (Level 1) of male gender, older age, less education, being an immigrant to one’s residing country, conservative political affiliation, high religiosity, perceptions that politics in one’s country were unfair, low openness to change values, low self-transcendence values, high conservation values, and high self-enhancement values were significantly linked with anti-homosexuality attitudes. At the country level (Level 2), a high emphasis on social conservatism and fewer civil rights for homosexuals was connected with more unfavorable attitudes. Findings indicate main effects of predictors at both levels; however, country-level variables tended to yield stronger coefficients than individual-level factors, highlighting the contributions of macro- and microfactors in simultaneously shaping attitudes toward homosexuality. Beyond these effects, interactions of country- and individual-level variables show political affiliation, religiosity, self-enhancement values as stronger predictors in liberal countries, but openness to change values, younger age, and higher education as stronger predictors in conservative countries. Implications are discussed for understanding the wide continuum of views toward homosexuality across people and countries

Conservatism · Cross-cultural · European Social Survey · Homosexuality · Multilevel model · Openness to experience · Political science · Politics · Religiosity · Sociology · World Values Survey · Cultural Differences and Values · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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