Premium
Human values, legal regulation, and approval of homosexuality in Europe: A cross‐country comparison
Author(s) -
Kuntz Anabel,
Davidov Eldad,
Schwartz Shalom H.,
Schmidt Peter
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2068
Subject(s) - homosexuality , openness to experience , universalism , liberalization , value (mathematics) , world values survey , psychology , social psychology , law , political science , politics , computer science , machine learning
Although research has revealed a trend toward liberalization of attitudes toward homosexuality in Western countries, acceptance of homosexuality differs remarkably among individuals and across countries. We examine the roles of individual value priorities and of national laws regarding homosexuality and the interaction between them in explaining approval of homosexuality. Data are drawn from the European Social Survey and include representative national samples of 27 European countries in 2010. As hypothesized, individuals who prioritized openness to change and universalism values approved of homosexuality more, whereas those who prioritized conservation and power values exhibited more disapproval. Approval was greater in countries whose laws regarding homosexuality were more progressive. In addition, legal regulation of homosexuality moderated the associations of individual value priorities. In countries with more progressive laws, both the positive effect of openness to change values and the negative effect of conservation values on approval of homosexuality were weaker. However, the positive effect of universalism values and the negative effect of power values did not vary as a function of national laws regarding homosexuality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.