The Components of Attitudes Toward Homosexuality scale developed by Kite and LaMar is a multidimensional measure using a 5-point Likert scale items ranging from 1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree. The four components are Condemnation/Tolerance, Morality, Contact, and Stereotypes. All four components contain items specific to gay men or lesbians. Morality and Contact have neutral items (unspecific to homosexual males or females). The authors state2:
Although the Condemnation/Tolerance and Morality factors may be similar for many purposes, it appears that the Contact and Stereotypes subscales are distinct factors. Researchers searching for a more fine-grained analysis of attitudes toward gay men and lesbians might choose one of those four factors.
Authors
Mary E. Kite and LaMar
Reliability and Validity
Condemnation/Tolerance Alpha = .92 for gay men and .89 for lesbians
Gay Male/Lesbian Social Norms/Morality Alpha = .92 for gay men and .93 for lesbians
Neutral Morality Alpha = .80
Gay Male/Lesbian Contact Alpha = .96 for gay men and .95 for lesbians
Neutral Contact Alpha = .75
Gay Male/Lesbian Stereotypes Alpha = .78 for gay men and .75 for lesbians
Obtaining the CATH
See http://www.bsu.edu/web/mkite/scales.htm
Kite2:
Researchers who wish to use the Homosexuality Attitude Scale (Kite & Deaux, 1986) or the Component Measure (LaMar & Kite, 1998) may do so. I ask only that the reference for these measures be reported in any published document and that the researchers send me basic psychometric data (e.g., means, standard deviations, alphas, correlations with other measures) for the measure based on their sample.
References
1 LaMar and Kite (1998). Sex differences in attitudes toward gay men and lesbians: A multi-dimensional perspective. The Journal of Sex Research, 35, 189-196.
2 http://www.bsu.edu/web/mkite/scales.htm accessed on 02/05/10
3 http://www.bsu.edu/web/mkite/jsr.scale.htm
