1. The Impact of Sexual Orientation on Perceptions of Dating Violence Against Female Athletes
Gabriella Caruso, Emily Schumacher, Tina Abi-Jaoude, Christine Zambernardi,
Alexis Trabucchi, Victoria Pace & Nicole Capezza
Stonehill College
INTRODUCTION
METHOD
RESULTSABSTRACT
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
RESULTS (continued)
Perceptions of the Perpetrator
Participants reported that the abuser’s actions were more desirable
in the homosexual condition F(1, 96) = 3.98, p = .049 (M = 1.27).
Consequently, participants found the perpetrator’s actions to be
more undesirable in the heterosexual condition (M = 4.67 in
comparison to M = 4.31) F(1, 96) = 4.60, p = .035. Finally in
further support for our hypothesis, participants were significantly
more likely to blame the perpetrator in the heterosexual condition
(M = 4.45) in comparison to the homosexual condition (M = 4.16)
F(1, 96) = 5.81, p = .018.
Participants (N = 96; 78 females; 90 heterosexual and 26 played on a
sport team) were recruited from a small college in New England and
received course credit for their participation. Each student was
randomly assigned to one of six conditions in our 3 (sport:
basketball, gymnast, control) by 2 (sexual orientation: heterosexual,
homosexual) between subjects experiment. Subjects were given a
packet and instructed to read a brief scenario involving a dating
conflict followed by a series of questions. Participants answered a
series of questions related to the conflict (i.e. how responsible was
Kaitlyn?) of which were rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1(not
at all) to 5(extremely).
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Heesacker, M. Why Is Benevolent Sexism Appealing? Associations With
System Justification and Life Satisfaction. Psychology of Women Quarterly,
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Seelau, E. P., Seelau, S. M., & Poorman, P. B. (2003). Gender and Role-Based
Perceptions of Domestic Abuse: Does Sexual Orientation Matter?.
Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 21, 199-214. doi: 10.1002/bsl.524
This study examined how subgroups of women (e.g., lesbians and
athletes) would be blamed for a dating conflict. We hypothesized
that participants would blame a homosexual basketball player
victim more than any other victim due to masculinity stereotypes.
Participants (N = 96) were assigned to one of six conditions in a 3
by 2 between-subject experiment. The results showed that there
was a significant interaction between sexuality and sport played.
The homosexual basketball player was blamed the most while the
heterosexual basketball player was blamed the least.
We hypothesized that participants would blame the homosexual
basketball player victim more than any other victim. The
participants followed predicted stereotypes when rating the victim
in the homosexual condition. The homosexual basketball player
was blamed more than the homosexual gymnast. However, in the
heterosexual condition we found the reverse: the heterosexual
basketball player was blamed less than the heterosexual gymnast.
Several explanations can be attributed to these findings. Our initial
predictions were based off of the assumption that people are more
likely to view the basketball player as more masculine. We also
based our prediction on previous research by Seelau et. al (2003),
which found that people generally take dating abuse in
homosexual relationships less seriously than in heterosexual
relationships. For example, in mock jury situations, people are
more likely to attribute more blame and distribute harsher
punishment to a heterosexual male perpetrator in comparison to a
lesbian perpetrator (p. 200-202). In the homosexual basketball
player condition, Kaitlyn could have been seen as her partner’s
equal (i.e. more masculine) which may have led participants to
infer that she had the ability to leave her abusive relationship and
thus blamed her more. In the homosexual gymnast condition,
Kaitlyn may not have been considered Jamie’s equal, which could
have led participants to blame her less for the abusive situation.
Traditionally, males tend to be characterized as dominant and
independent, whereas females are more likely to be classified as
gentle and warm. When females do not follow the communal
stereotypes, they are often perceived negatively and blamed more
for a conflict. In this study, we examined whether certain subgroups
of females (e.g., lesbians and athletes) would be blamed for a dating
conflict. Basketball is stereotypically thought of as a more
masculine sport due to its aggressive nature and its association with
prevalent male teams, while the appearance and elegance of a
gymnast makes the sport seem more feminine. Furthermore, due to
preexisting stereotypes against homosexuals, lesbian couples are
perceived differently than the traditional male and female couple
and may be blamed more in dating conflicts. Females in a romantic
relationship may be considered equal, therefore leading onlookers
to assume the victim could easily avoid the abuse. We hypothesized
that a homosexual who was a member of the basketball team rather
than the gymnastics team would be blamed more as a victim.
Perceptions of the Victim
We confirmed that participants would judge the victim more
harshly if they identified as homosexual. Using an analysis of
variance (ANOVA), we examined how much participants saw the
victim’s actions as affecting the conflict. A significant main
effect was found for sexual orientation, F(1, 96 ) = 6.84 , p = .
010. Overall, participants blamed the homosexual victim for the
conflict more (M = 1.93) than the heterosexual victim (M =
1.52). Further, we found a significant interaction between the sex
of the victim’s partner and the sport the victim played, F(2, 96) =
3.84, p = .025. The victim was seen as more responsible for the
conflict when she was a homosexual basketball player (M =
2.06), and rated least responsible in the heterosexual basketball
player (M = 1.31) condition. An analysis of variance (ANOVA)
was also done to measure how desirable participants rated the
victim’s actions. Again, participants were significantly more
likely to find the victims actions more desirable in the
heterosexual condition (M = 3.99 in comparison to M = 3.50).
Finally, we found a second significant interaction between sport
and sexuality, F(2, 96) = 3.21, p = 0.45. Participants rated the
victim as least like a friend they knew when she was in the
heterosexual gymnast condition (M = 3.94), whereas when the
victim was in the homosexual condition, no differences emerged
based on sport.
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