Ego development and sex attitudes in heterosexual and homosexual men and women

Abstract

A comparison was made of heterosexual and homosexual men and women utilizing Loevinger's concept of ego development and focusing on the relationships among ego levels and attitudes toward homosexuality and on personal sex guilt and other sociosexual variables. Previous comparative studies were critically analyzed with respect to the adequacy of definition and description of sampling procedures, and the appropriateness of research question. A pilot study reported here concerns the development of a measure of "attitudes toward homosexuality." The major study utilized 200 subjects who completed an anonymous and lengthy questionnaire. This sample was relatively young, well-educated, white, and Protestant. Self-ratings on the two Kinsey-type scales clearly differentiated the self-identified primarily heterosexual and homosexual groups. In this study there were no significant differences in ego levels between the heterosexual and the homosexual groups, suggesting that ego development and sexual orientation development are independent phenomena. Among both homosexual and heterosexual subjects there were low but significant correlations between higher levels of ego development and more positive attitudes toward homosexuality. More negative attitudes toward homosexuality were correlated with higher levels of personal sex guilt for heterosexual and homosexual men and for heterosexual women. Our measure of sex guilt proved to be related to ego level only for heterosexual males, although the measure of this construct requires additional research and refinement. Other correlates of these variables are also reported.