Sex differences in attitudes toward homosexuality: a comment on Oliver and Hyde (1993)

In a recent article, M. B. Oliver and J. S. Hyde (1993) reported the results of a set of meta-analyses of gender differences on a number of sexuality-related variables, including attitudes toward homosexuality. The small number of studies on this topic included in the review suggested that Oliver and Hyde's literature search strategy overlooked a number of studies. This article reports the results of a new meta-analysis using an expanded search strategy. In contrast to Oliver and Hyde's results, it was found that men held more negative attitudes toward homosexuality and, to a lesser extent, the civil rights of lesbians and gay men than did women. Effect sizes were moderated by subject population, with general adult samples showing no sex difference and other samples showing larger effect sizes. Effect sizes also varied as a function of the sex of the person rated, with larger sex differences for gay men than for lesbians. The implications of the results for the process of literature reviewing and for gender-based explanations of antigay prejudice are discussed.