Homophobia Scale – HS

Abstract

The Homophobia Scale (HS) is a robust 25-item psychological measurement scale developed in 1999 by Wright, Adams, and Bernat. Its primary function is to quantify the multidimensional nature of negative attitudes, emotional responses, and aggressive behavioral intentions directed toward gay and lesbian individuals. Utilizing a 5-point Likert format, the HS captures the complexity of prejudice by assessing three distinct factors: Behavior/Negative Affect, Affect/Behavioral Aggression, and Cognitive Negativism.

The HS total score ranges from 0 to 100, where higher scores signify greater levels of Homophobia. Due to its established psychometric properties, the scale is widely employed in social and personality psychology research to study predictors of bias, evaluate anti-prejudice interventions, and understand the dynamics of attitudes toward sexual minorities.

Keywords

Homophobia, Sexual Attitudes, Prejudice, Affective Measures, Behavioral Aggression, Cognitive Negativism, Attitude Measurement, Psychological Scale, Sexual Minorities, Wright Adams Bernat.

Authors

Wright, L. W., Adams, H. E., Bernat, J.

Purpose

The central purpose of the Homophobia Scale (HS) is to offer a reliable and empirically validated instrument for measuring the intensity and structure of homophobic prejudice. Unlike many earlier instruments that treated homophobia as a simple, unitary construct, the HS was specifically designed to reflect its complexity, acknowledging that negative orientations manifest across cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains.

Functioning as a critical research tool, the HS allows investigators to isolate and quantify specific components of prejudice—such as moral judgment, felt discomfort, and aggressive intent—which is essential for understanding the mechanisms underlying discriminatory behavior. Furthermore, its factor structure is valuable for assessing the impact of educational or therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing bias across various population segments.

Construct

The HS operationalizes the psychological construct of Homophobia, defined here as a complex negative orientation involving fear, discomfort, prejudice, and discriminatory actions directed toward gay and lesbian individuals. The scale assesses this construct across three empirically derived dimensions identified through Factor Analysis:

• Behavior/Negative Affect (Factor 1): This dimension captures immediate emotional reactions, general negative feelings, discomfort, and active avoidance behaviors related to homosexual individuals.
• Affect/Behavioral Aggression (Factor 2): This factor assesses overt hostility, including intentions or past acts of verbal or physical aggression, property damage, moral condemnation, and general distrust toward homosexual people.
• Cognitive Negativism (Factor 3): This component measures generalized negative beliefs and high-level cognitive judgments concerning the societal acceptability of homosexuality, including views on legal rights, moral status, and suitability for specific roles.

The total score provides a continuous metric of overall homophobia, standardized to range from 0 (low prejudice) to 100 (high prejudice), facilitating cross-study comparisons.

Validity

The original validation study by Wright, Adams, and Bernat (1999) provided strong evidence for the HS’s validity. They established robust construct validity by demonstrating that HS scores correlated significantly with measures of theoretically related constructs, such as political conservatism and authoritarianism. The scale effectively discriminated between groups hypothesized to hold varying degrees of homophobic attitudes, such as different student populations.

Additionally, the confirmation of a clear, three-factor structure via Factor Analysis provides substantial evidence for structural validity. This confirms that the 25 items accurately map onto the intended theoretical components of homophobia—affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions—underscoring the instrument’s ability to measure the multifaceted nature of the construct.

Reliability

The Homophobia Scale demonstrates strong internal consistency, which is a critical indicator of its reliability. The original development work reported high coefficient alpha values for the overall 25-item scale, ensuring that the items consistently measure the same underlying construct. The satisfactory reliability of the HS is widely recognized in the literature, suggesting that scores are stable and repeatable when assessing an individual’s attitudes over time.

Crucially, the reliability was also confirmed for the three individual subscales (Behavior/Negative Affect, Affect/Behavioral Aggression, and Cognitive Negativism). This internal coherence allows researchers to use the factor scores independently with confidence, supporting the application of the HS in both fundamental academic research and applied clinical settings.

Factor Analysis

The scale’s development relied extensively on detailed Factor Analysis to empirically establish the underlying structure of homophobic attitudes. Wright et al. (1999) confirmed a stable and robust three-factor solution, which accounts for the variance observed across the 25 items, successfully demonstrating the multidimensional nature of prejudice against sexual minorities.

The subscales and their specific scoring ranges are calculated after applying reverse scoring to items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, and 25:

• Factor 1: Behavior/Negative Affect: Comprised of items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 22. Scores are calculated by summing these items and subtracting 10. The score range is 0 to 40.
• Factor 2: Affect/Behavioral Aggression: Comprised of items 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, and 25. Scores are calculated by summing these items and subtracting 10. The score range is 0 to 40.
• Factor 3: Cognitive Negativism: Comprised of items 3, 8, 16, 18, and 20. Scores are calculated by summing these items and subtracting 5. The score range is 0 to 20.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report inventory measuring attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Format: 25 items rated on a 5-point Likert format (1= Strongly agree, 2= Agree, 3= Neither agree nor disagree, 4= Disagree, 5= Strongly disagree).

Language Available: English (Original validation).

Population Group: General population, primarily validated and utilized among undergraduate university students.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (Typically 18 years and older).

Population Details: Suitable for assessing attitudes in diverse samples within educational, social, and psychological research settings focused on prejudice and tolerance toward sexual minorities.

Test Methodology: The total scale score is calculated by summing responses for items 1 through 25, and then subtracting 25. The resulting score range is 0 to 100, where higher scores denote greater levels of homophobia. Specific subscale scores are calculated as detailed in the Factor Analysis section above.

Keywords

Psychological assessment, Social psychology, Prejudice measurement, Attitude scale, Sexual orientation, HS scale, Psychometrics, Attitude Measurement, Bias Reduction.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1999 (Year of original publication and validation).

Permissions and Fee: The Homophobia Scale is generally employed in non-commercial academic research settings and may be used without explicit fee, provided standard citation requirements are met. Researchers seeking commercial use or specific usage guidelines should consult the original publication or contact the authors directly for current permissions.

The instrument can be accessed online for informational purposes here: http://www.midss.org/content/homophobia-scale

Reference’s

• Wright, L. W., Adams, H. E., & Bernat, J. (1999). Development and validation of the Homophobia Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 21, 337-347.
• Fisher, T. D., Davis, C. M., Yarber, W. L., & Davis, S. L. (2010). Handbook of Sexuality-Related Measures. New York: Routledge.

Items of the Homophobia Scale – HS

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Gay people make me nervous.
2. Gay people deserve what they get.
3. Homosexuality is acceptable to me.
4. If I discovered a friend was gay I would end the friendship.
5. I think homosexual people should not work with children.
6. I make derogatory remarks about gay people.
7. I enjoy the company of gay people.
8. Marriage between homosexual individuals is acceptable.
9. I make derogatory remarks like “faggot” or “queer” to people I suspect are gay.
10. It does not matter to me whether my friends are gay or straight.
11. It would not upset me if I learned that a close friend was homosexual.
12. Homosexuality is immoral.
13. I tease and make jokes about gay people.
14. I feel that you cannot trust a person who is homosexual.
15. I fear homosexual persons will make sexual advances towards me.
16. Organizations which promote gay rights are necessary.
17. I have damaged property of gay persons, such as “keying” their cars.
18. I would feel comfortable having a gay roommate.
19. I would hit a homosexual for coming on to me.
20. Homosexual behavior should not be against the law.
21. I avoid gay individuals.
22. It does not bother me to see two homosexual people together in public.
23. When I see a gay person I think, What a waste.”
24. When I meet someone I try to find out if he/she is gay.
25. I have rocky relationships with people that I suspect are gay.

Scoring Key: 1= Strongly agree, 2= Agree, 3= Neither agree nor disagree, 4= Disagree, 5= Strongly disagree.

Reverse Scored Items: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24 and 25.