A study of same sex touching attitudes: Scale development and personality predictors

Abstract

Attitudes toward same sex touching is an area of considerable importance to understanding sex‐role rigidity and heterosexual intimacy, and are thought to be significant to sexual adjustment and well‐being. A reliable and valid scale is needed for research on same sex touching. In this article, seven phases in the development of a Likert‐type scale measuring attitudes toward same sex touching (SSTS) are described. Phase 1 of the study was an item analysis producing part‐whole correlations ranging from .72 to .82, alpha = .98, and reproducibility = .93. Further, in Phase 2, the SSTS was shown to have moderate relationships to authoritarianism (r = ‐.38, p ≤ .01), rigidity (r = ‐.48, p ≤ .01), and socially desirable conceptions of femininity for both males (r = .46, p ≤ .01), and females (r = .31, p ≤ .01). In Phase 3 the construct validity correlations of Phase 2 were generally replicated. In Phases 4 and 5 significant correlations were found between the SSTS and Machiavellianism (r = ‐.25, p ≤ .05), religious orthodoxy (r = ‐.29, p ≤ .05), and locus of control (r = .35, p ≤ .05) for males and with radicalism—conservatism (r = .36, p ≤ .05) and self‐esteem (r = ‐.33, p ≤ .05) for females. Phase 5 yielded a ‐.77 (p ≤ .01) correlation between SSTS and the criterion touch‐avoidance measure. Finally, results from Phases 6 and 7 demonstrated promising SSTS discriminant validity. In particular, more positive attitudes were found for counseling as compared to science students. Furthermore, students working in task groups under cooperative conditions discriminate effectively on the SSTS for both self‐ and peer rankings on ease of same sex touching behavior.