Previous research on
heterosexuals' beliefs about sexual orientation (SO) has been limited in that
it has generally examined heterosexuals' beliefs from an essentialist
perspective. The recently developed Sexual Orientation Beliefs Scale (SOBS;
Arseneau, Grzanka, Miles, & Fassinger, 2013) assesses multifarious
"lay beliefs" about SO from essentialist, social constructionist, and
constructivist perspectives.
This study used the SOBS to explore latent
group-based patterns in endorsement of these beliefs in 2 samples of
undergraduate students: a mixed-gender sample (n = 379) and an all-women sample
(n = 266). While previous research has posited that essentialist beliefs about
the innateness of SO predict positive attitudes toward sexual minorities, our research
contributes to a growing body of scholarship that suggests that biological
essentialism should be considered in the context of other beliefs.
Using a
person-centered analytic strategy, we found that that college students fell
into distinct patterns of SO beliefs that are more different on beliefs about
the homogeneity, discreteness, and informativeness of SO categories than on
beliefs about the naturalness of SO. Individuals with higher levels of
endorsement on all 4 SOBS subscales (a group we named multidimensional
essentialism) and those who were highest in discreteness, homogeneity, and
informativeness beliefs (i.e., high-DHI) reported higher levels of
homonegativity when compared with those who were high only in naturalness
beliefs.
We discuss the implications of these findings for counseling and
psychotherapy about SO, as well educational and social interventions.
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