The Gay Identity Questionnaire: a brief measure of Homosexual Identity Formation

Abstract

This article describes the development of the Gay Identity Questionnaire (GIQ) which was derived from tenets of the Homosexual Identity Formation (HIF) model proposed by Cass in 1979. The GIQ is a brief measure that may be used by clinicians and researchers for identifying gay males in the various stages of homosexual identity formation. The test construction procedures included the selection of questionnaire items based upon constructs of the Homosexual Identity Formation Model, establishment of interrater and interitem reliability for those items, and refinement of the GIQ through two pilot tests. The final version of the GIQ was administered to two hundred twenty-five males who reported having same-sex fantasies or engaging in homosexual behavior. In addition, demographic and psychosocial data were collected and used to describe the sample and examine the relationship of these variables to subject stage of HIF. Results support the use of the Gay Identity Questionnaire as a brief measure for identifying subject stage of homosexual identity formation. The data also suggest that homosexual identity acquisition may be a two-stage process rather than the six-stage process proposed by Cass (1979). The differentiation between these stages includes whether or not a subject had resolved a coherent self-identity as gay and had a significant relationship to some aspect of the gay culture.