Development and Validation of the Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale

Abstract

This research details the development of a new instrument designed to measure attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Participants were 615 heterosexual women and men, drawn from both student and nonstudent adult populations. Four studies were conducted for the purpose of developing the scale and to establish its psychometric properties. The resulting Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Scale (ATSM) consists of 17 items, has a one-dimensional factor structure, and exhibits a high degree of reliability. Additional analyses established the construct validity of the ATSM where ATSM scores were highly correlated with scores on the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (Herek, 1988). ATSM scores followed predicted correlational patterns with select demographics, including educational attainment, religiosity, and political conservatism. The usefulness of this new measure in survey research is discussed.

Key Words:

• Attitudes
• same-sex marriage
• gay marriage
• sexual orientation
• lesbians
• gay men
• scale development