French Validation of a Homonegativity Scale: the SABA

Details

Supervisors

Casini, Annalisa ; Sarter, Emma

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

To better understand and address the specific discrimination experienced by homosexual people, many authors use the concept of homonegativity (Lottes & Grollman, 2010). This construct endorses individual and societal stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination against lesbian women and gay men (Herek et al., 2015; Morrison & Morrison, 2011). Nonetheless, there is currently a lack of valid measurement instruments of homonegativity. For this reason, Preuß and colleagues (2020) developed a new tool in German: the Affective and Behavioral components of Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men Scale (SABA). This Master’s thesis aimed at validating the SABA in French. The psychometric properties of the scale were investigated by means of an online questionnaire based on Preuß and colleagues’ (2020) study and on the literature on homonegativity. Three hundred and seventy-four respondents were retained for analyses. Since the SABA consists of a version about gay men (SABA-G) and a version about lesbian women (SABA-L), the two versions were analyzed separately. Using confirmatory factor analyses, we tested the structural validity of the scale, which was composed – as expected – of a two-factor structure with an affective and a behavioral component. Cronbach’s alphas and McDonald’s omegas indicated satisfactory to very good reliability indices. Medium to large Pearson’s correlations between the SABA and other homonegativity scales evidenced good convergent validity, whereas rather small Pearson’s correlations between the SABA and supposedly unrelated constructs (i.e., social anxiety and social desirability) demonstrated satisfactory discriminant validity. T-tests, ANOVAs, and Pearson’s correlations also revealed good known-groups validity. Finally, binomial logistic regressions showed that the SABA could predict a LG-friendly behavior, indicating good criterion validity, and that the SABA did so even when other homonegativity scales were included in the regressions, attesting to good incremental validity. In summary, the French version of the SABA demonstrated good psychometric properties and, as such, constitutes a promising tool, distinctly measuring affective and behavioral homonegative attitudes on the one hand, and attitudes toward lesbian women and gay men on the other hand. Future studies could adapt the SABA to other forms of queernegativity, collect current and more accurate data on homonegative attitudes, conduct cross-country comparisons, and develop monitoring and interventions on homonegativity in French-speaking countries.