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. 2018 Jun;5(2):156-168.
doi: 10.1037/sgd0000292.

Negative Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Behavior Inventory: An Internalized Homonegativity Measure for Research with Bisexual, Gay, and other Non-Gay Identified Men who have Sex with Men

Nadav Antebi-Gruszka  1 , Eric W Schrimshaw  2
Affiliations

Negative Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Behavior Inventory: An Internalized Homonegativity Measure for Research with Bisexual, Gay, and other Non-Gay Identified Men who have Sex with Men

Nadav Antebi-Gruszka et al. Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Substantial evidence exists about the negative role of internalized homonegativity on the health and well-being of lesbian women and gay men. However, existing measures of internalized homonegativity assume a gay or lesbian sexual identity ("I wish I wasn't gay") and therefore may be inappropriate for non-gay identified individuals, including bisexual people. Therefore, we developed and tested the psychometric properties of the Negative Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Behavior Inventory (NATSBI) which was designed to assess one's negative attitudes towards their same-sex behavior, regardless of their self-identification. Using data from an ethnically-diverse sample of 203 non-gay identified behaviorally-bisexual men, we examined the factor structure, construct validity, and reliability of the NATSBI. A factor analysis of the NATSBI yielded three subscales: (1) personal homonegativity, (2) disclosure discomfort, and (3) privacy preference, with very good internal consistency reliability estimates for both subscales (α = .90, α = .89, and α = .84, respectively). The reliability was also strong within each of various demographic subgroups within the sample (e.g., race/ethnicity, age, sexual identity). The correlations of the NATSBI with various constructs (e.g., self-esteem, depression, emotional support) provided evidence of the concurrent (i.e., construct) validity of the NATSBI. These findings on the reliability and validity of the NATSBI suggest that it is possible to assess internalized homonegativity based on sexual behavior rather than assuming specific sexual identity labels. As such, we propose the NATSBI for use in studies that focus on bisexual and other non-gay-identified MSM, as well as studies that anticipate including non-gay-identified MSM.

Keywords: Internalized homonegativity; bisexuality; same-sex behavior; scale development.

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