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Make‐Believe Families and Homosexuality Among Imprisoned Girls
Author(s) -
PROPPER ALICE M.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1982.tb00452.x
Subject(s) - sister , homosexuality , psychology , daughter , social psychology , same sex , developmental psychology , sociology , psychoanalysis , law , anthropology , political science
Methodological issues associated with measuring homosexuality and make‐believe families were examined. A clear operational definition of each was then used to measure their incidence and relationship to each other. Data from the staff and inmates of three coed and four all‐female training schools indicated that homosexuality and make‐believe families were as prevalent in coed as in female institutions, and that most make‐believe family groupings consisted of asexual sister‐sister and mother‐daughter relationships. Homosexual marriages were rare, and girls who did not adopt make‐believe family roles were just as likely to report homosexual experiences as those who were in families. Thus, correlations between homosexual experiences and being in a make‐believe family were weak and negative. Explanations are suggested for the nonobvious findings and the results are compared to other reports in previous literature.