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Psychologists' Attitudes toward Homosexual Psychotherapy Clients
Author(s) -
Garfinkle Ellen M.,
Morin Stephen F.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1978.tb02617.x
Subject(s) - psychology , sexual orientation , attribution , semantic differential , clinical psychology , homosexuality , social psychology , psychoanalysis
Forty male and forty female psychotherapists were asked to rate both a hypothetical client, based on an intake case history, and their concept of the “psychologically healthy person” on a semantic differential scale. Participants were assigned case histories where the hypothetical client was a heterosexual male, heterosexual female, homosexual male, or homosexual female. Attributions of psychological health were found to differ as a function of sexual orientation of client and sex of therapist. No significant difference was found between evaluation of male homosexual and female homosexual clients. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of perceived violations of sex‐role stereotypes in the evaluation of psychological health.