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While predictors of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, as well as bisexuals and trans individuals, have been investigated relatively thoroughly, attitudes toward asexuality are a recently emerging field. The current study investigates predictors of attitudes toward asexuality, operationally defined using the Attitudes Towards Asexuality (ATA) scale created by Hoffarth and colleagues in 2016. Predictors included authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, intergroup disgust sensitivity, sexism, erotophobia–erotophilia, sociosexuality, motivation to respond without prejudice, singlism, and demographic characteristics of the perceiver. Response to the ATA indicated positivity toward asexuality, with the majority of participants expressing disagreement with the negative statements about asexuality. Many of the individual difference variables correlated moderately with the ATA. Multiple regression analyses indicated that significant predictors of the ATA included right-wing authoritarianism, internal motivation to respond without prejudice, intergroup disgust sensitivity, benevolent sexism, participant sexual orientation, and religiosity. Together, these six predictors accounted for half of the variance in the ATA. The findings of this study suggest that attitudes toward asexuality are similarly predicted by those individual difference variables that predict attitudes toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transpersons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With grounding in the Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice, we explore individual difference predictors of attitudes toward transgender people. In particular, we measure general and gender conservatism, as well as the previously unexplored predictors of erotophobia–erotophilia (comfort with sexuality) and quality of previous contact with sexual minorities. In this North American student sample (N = 218), attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (ATLG) correlated strongly with the Transgender Belief Scale (r = 0.82), suggesting a lack of differentiation between sexual minority groups. Multiple regression models indicated that participant gender and conservatism (as measured through homophobia, benevolent sexism and authoritarianism) contributed uniquely to transgender attitude prediction. After excluding the ATLG as a predictor, contact quality with sexual minorities, erotophobia–erotophilia, religious fundamentalism, benevolent sexism, and participant gender emerged as predictors of transgender beliefs. Separate gender analyses suggest that benevolent and hostile sexism might function differently in the prediction of transgender attitudes for women and men, respectively. Findings also suggest that secondary transfer via contact with sexual minorities may influence feelings about transgender people. Implications for sex educators are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the nature of the relationship between satisfaction with high school sexual health education and the pursuit of a post-secondary human sexuality course. In an initial study, first-year university students who received high school sexual health education in Ontario completed a questionnaire which assessed their satisfaction with sexual health education and asked whether students were pursuing or intended to pursue a human sexuality course in university. Students who were less satisfied with high school sexual health education and, in particular, those who did not rate sexual health education as contributing to their understanding of themselves as sexual beings, were more likely to pursue a university-level course. A second qualitative study investigated potential reasons underlying this correlation. Eleven first-year students enrolled in a human sexuality course were interviewed about (a) their satisfaction with their high school sexual health education and (b) their reasons for taking the course. The findings suggest that dissatisfaction with sexual health education may be a result of students perceiving they had not learned enough personally relevant information and/or received a biased education in high school. These factors, which seem to determine dissatisfaction, may motivate students to pursue additional education in university. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explored whether counseling practices with women survivors of child sexual abuse reflect the belief that women do not sexually abuse children. Canadian therapists (n = 164) who work with women survivors of child sexual abuse were surveyed about their beliefs about what constitutes child sexual abuse, who commits child sexual abuse, and their practices regarding inquiries about abusive behavior. A majority self-reported that they ask women and think it is important to ask but most believe that clients will not spontaneously self-disclose inappropriate sexual thoughts or behaviors. How broadly or narrowly therapists defined child sexual abuse was not related to self-reported therapeutic discussion. Therapists demonstrated differential gender beliefs about child sexual abuse perpetration, but this did not relate to self-reported counseling practices. Implications for therapist education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a correlational design with a sample of university students to clarify the relationships between attitude functions and homonegativity with respect to gender. Classic work on attitude functions posits that attitudes serve psychological needs for the attitude holder. Herek (1986b) adapted this theory to explain attitudes toward homosexuality. Herek (1987) identified four functions: ego-defensive (defense of threats to the self), value-expressive (expression of key values), social-expressive (expression of important social norms), and experiential (based on past experiences). Results suggested that men were more likely to attribute their attitudes to the ego-defensive function. Men and women were equally likely to attribute their attitudes to the experiential function. The ego-defensive function was the best predictor of homonegativity for men and women, whether they held generally positive or generally negative attitudes toward homosexuality. The experiential function did not predict homonegativity. Participants tended to be neither very homonegative nor very ego-defensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sexual health education curriculum, Girl Time: Grade 7/8 Healthy Sexuality Program, was created and implemented with the goals of encouraging young girls to (a) delay sexual intercourse until they are mature enough, and (b) practice safer sex when they engage in sexual activity. The program was structured around the information-motivation-behavioural skills model as recommended in the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. This study presents the results of an outcome evaluation of this primary prevention program. Girls who participated in Girl Time differed consistently from non-program girls on self-efficacy, sexual health knowledge, and comfort with sexuality issues (i.e., erotophobia—erotophilia); program girls versus comparison girls also differed on behavioural intentions, parent communication, benefits of sexual intercourse, sexual attitudes, and social desirability. These findings suggest that the program had a positive impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses parents, students and program leaders involved in an in-school drug prevention program called Opening Doors for their perceptions of the efficacy of the program. Target groups of the program; Objectives of the parent component of the program; Results of the program leaders feedback survey.