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Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedBiased Use of Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Male Homosexuality in Human Sexuality Textbooks
Journal of Sex Research, Nov, 1998 by Bruce Rind
Two tests were conducted to examine inappropriateness. Because they were conceptUally correlated, in that the way a textbook presented examples in the chapter on homosexuality was likely to be related to the way it presented examples in chapters not on homosexuality or pedophilia, the level of significance for each was set at p = .05/2 = .025, according to a Bonferroni correction. In the 17 chapters on homosexuality, the mean value of the 52 uses of transgenerational examples was .28 (SD = .60), which fell significantly below the value of 1, t(51) = -8.66, p [is less than] .001, one-tailed, effect size r = .77 (positive effect sizes indicate bias). In other chapters not on homosexuality or pedophilia in the 18 textbooks, the mean value of 42 uses was .59 (SD = .73), which also fell significantly below 1, t(41) = -3.64, p [is less than] .001, one-tailed, effect size r = .49. These results confirm that the transgenerational examples were generally not being used appropriately in nonpedophilia chapters.
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Examination of other biases. Aside from inappropriate use, other possible biases were inappropriate descriptions of transgenerational examples, as well as inappropriate labeling. For example, Byer and Shainberg (1994) claimed that homosexuality between men was accepted in ancient Greece and Rome: This description was inappropriate, given that these cultures accepted sexual relations between men and boys while scorning the passive adult (Cantarella, 1992; Percy, 1996). Moreover, labeling the relations in Greece and Rome as homosexuality was inappropriate, given that these authors discussed the same relations in their chapter on child sexual abuse as pedophilia. As in the analyses in the previous section, bias was indicated in the current analyses by means that fell significantly below 1 (0 indicated bias; 2 indicated no bias). Further, as in the previous section, the significance level was set at p = .025 for the tests in each pair in this section.
Across the 17 textbooks with a chapter on homosexuality, no bias was shown in how these relations were described, as indicated by a mean rating that was not less than 1 (M = 1.40, SD = .63), t(51) = 4.59, p [is greater than] .99, one-tailed; similarly, across the 18 textbooks in other chapters not concerned with homosexuality or pedophilia, no bias was found (M = 1.43, SD = .74), t(41) = 3.77, p [is greater than] .99, one-tailed. On the other hand, bias was indicated for labeling in the case of the chapters on homosexuality (M = .12, SD = .32), t(51) = -19.77, p [is less than] .001 one-tailed, effect size r = .94, as well as other chapters (M = .36, SD = .53), t(41) = -7.82, p [is less than] .001, one-tailed, effect size r = .77.
An overall index of biased use of transgenerational examples was computed by summing the codings assigned to description, labeling, and appropriateness. This index could range from 0 (biased) to 6 (unbiased). Overall bias was examined by comparing the mean value of this index with 3, the midpoint of the scale; a mean significantly less than 3 indicated bias. For the 17 chapters on homosexuality, the mean index of 1.80 (SD = 1.01) fell well below 3, t(53) = -8.53, p [is less than] .001, one-tailed, effect size r = .77. In the 18 other chapters, the mean index also fell significantly below 3 (M= 2.38, SD = 1.59), t(41) = -2.54, p [is less than] .001, one-tailed, effect size r = .37. These results confirm a strong tendency towards biased use of transgenerational examples.
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