Modern Homonegativity Scale – Gay Men [MHSG]

Analysis

The Modern Homonegativity Scale – Gay Men (MHSG) is a psychometric instrument designed to assess contemporary forms of prejudice and negative attitudes toward gay men. Rather than focusing only on overtly hostile expressions, the MHSG examines more subtle, indirect, or socially acceptable forms of homonegativity that may be reflected in social beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

This approach allows researchers to investigate negative attitudes that may not appear as explicit hostility but may still reflect resistance to social acceptance, equal treatment, or the public visibility of gay men.

Objective

The primary objective of the MHSG is to provide a quantitative assessment of contemporary negative attitudes toward gay men.

More specifically, the scale aims to:

Assess modern attitudes, including subtle and indirect forms of negativity that may not be openly hostile.

Examine social perceptions, particularly how social and cultural beliefs may influence attitudes toward gay men.

Support educational and intervention programs aimed at improving understanding and acceptance.

Promote social awareness of contemporary forms of homonegativity and their possible effects on social relationships.

Scoring

The MHSG is scored through a series of statements that participants evaluate using a 5-point Likert scale.

The response scale ranges from:

1 = Strongly disagree

to

5 = Strongly agree

The statements concern attitudes and perceptions toward gay men, and the total score reflects the overall level of modern homonegativity.

Higher scores indicate higher levels of negative or prejudicial attitudes, whereas lower scores indicate lower endorsement of such attitudes.

The available source does not provide the exact number of items, a complete total-score range, or official cut-off values. Therefore, these details should not be added without further documentation from the original instrument or a relevant validation study.

Use of Results

MHSG scores may be used to examine differences in attitudes toward gay men across different social, demographic, or cultural groups.

In research settings, scores may also be investigated in relation to variables such as social values, cultural beliefs, religiosity, ideological attitudes, or other psychosocial factors, depending on the objectives of the study.

The instrument may also be used before and after educational or intervention programs to evaluate potential changes in attitudes.

References

Morrison, M. A., & Morrison, T. G. (2002). Development and validation of a scale measuring modern prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women. Journal of Homosexuality, 43(2), 15–37.

Morrison, T. G., Kenny, P., & Harrington, N. (2005). Modern prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women: Assessing the viability of a measure of modern homonegativity. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 18(2), 1–22.

Swank, E., & Raiz, L. (2010). Predicting the support of same-sex relationship rights among social work students. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 22(1–2), 149–164.

Costa, P. A., & Davies, M. (2012). Portuguese adolescents’ attitudes toward sexual minorities: Transphobia, homophobia, and gender role beliefs. Journal of Homosexuality, 59(10), 1424–1442.

Brown, M. J., & Henriquez, E. (2008). The relationship between parenting style and perceived racism, sexism, and homonegativity in college students. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 45(4), 510–529.