Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in China: Exploring the Effects of Religion, Modernizing Factors, and Traditional Culture

ABSTRACT

Using the zero-inflated model and nationally representative sample data from the Chinese General Social Surveys 2013, this study systematically explored the effects of religion, modernizing factors, and traditional culture on attitudes toward homosexuality in China. The findings indicate that most Chinese people generally hold conservative attitudes toward homosexuality, as approximately 78.53% of the respondents believed that “same-sex sexual behavior is always wrong.” Modernizing factors (i.e., education, exposure to Internet information, and liberal inclinations) predicted greater tolerance for homosexuality, whereas Islamic beliefs negatively influenced respondents’ attitudes toward homosexuality. In contrast to the findings of the existing literature, Christian beliefs and traditional culture did not have significant effects on attitudes toward homosexuality. These findings may contribute to the literature by not only quantitatively testing the applicability of several factors identified in most Western studies of this topic but also providing new knowledge of attitudes toward homosexuality in the social context of China.

KEYWORDS:

• Homosexuality
• education
• Internet exposure
• liberal inclinations
• Islamic beliefs
• traditional culture
• China

Acknowledgments

The China General Social Survey is conducted by China Renmin University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The authors are solely responsible for the analyses and interpretations presented in this study. We appreciate three anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this article.

Funding

This work is funded by Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education, China (Grant no. 15YJCZH128).

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education, China (Grant no.: 15YJCZH128).