Five-year cohort study of White-British male student-athletes’ attitudes toward gay men

Abstract

While sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men, attitudes toward homosexuality among youth in the West have changed significantly in recent years. This research uses Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale, Revised Version (ATLG-R) scale to investigate attitudes toward homosexuality among 243 undergraduate male students in the UK. Results revealed no significant differences in student attitudes toward gay men in the first two years, but significantly more positive attitudes onward from the third. Overall, incoming attitudinal dispositions of homophobia among young male student-athletes were minimal. Anderson's Inclusive Masculinity Theory (IMT) is used to explain these findings, with the results supporting existing literature concerning positive attitudes toward homosexuality among young, sporting men in the UK.