Reducing homonegativity among German adolescents: Results of a 6-week follow-up study

Abstract

Bullying against lesbian and gay adolescents continues to be a problem in Western societies. Interventions to reduce homonegative attitudes could help to address bullying. We evaluated the effectiveness of a workshop against homonegativity in adolescents (N = 214) aged between 14 and 16 years in a pretest, posttest, follow-up design with a control group who participated in this workshop afterwards. Results revealed that the workshop reduced homonegativity in adolescents directly after the workshop, but not 6 weeks after the workshop. Moreover, we investigated predictors of the effectiveness of the workshop. Regression analyses revealed that the level of homonegativity 1 week prior to the workshop, gender role orientation, and religious denomination explained 28.6% of the variance in the reduction of homonegativity directly after the workshop. Based on the results, the effectiveness of one-time workshops is discussed.

Keywords:

• Homonegativity
• adolescents
• intervention

Acknowledgments

We thank Markus Chmielorz, Marta Grabski, and Andrea Westhoff (Rosa Strippe e.V. Bochum) and for discussions about the research idea, conducting the workshop, and assistance in the data collection as well as Lilo Huber-Bach for assistance in the data collection.

Notes on contributors

Norbert Zmyj, Dr. rer. nat, is Professor of Development Psychology at TU Dortmund University. His main research interest is children’s social-cognitive development. One line of this research concerns children’s development of the in-group-out-group bias. As part of this line of research, he investigates adolescents’ stereotypes including homonegativity.

Raphaela Wehlig, M. Sc. Psychology, studied psychology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and is a psychotherapist-in-training with a focus on cognitive behavioral therapy. Her interest in human cognition and behavior is mirrored in her research on the efficacy of modifying adolescents’ stereotypical thinking.