Homophobic Bullying: Beliefs and practices of higher education students in Portugal

Abstract

The study aimed to characterize beliefs and practices of a group of 369 Portuguese college students, 282 female and 84 male, with an average age of 21.49, concerning homophobic bullying. Based on a sociodemographic report and three Inventories, we concluded that men are more victims and aggressors of homophonic bullying than women. Portuguese students who practice more violent behaviors against lesbian and gay (LG) people present more conservative beliefs on LG sexual orientation and gender, comparing to those who are not violent. People who reveal more conservative beliefs on LG sexual orientation are also who reveal more conservative beliefs on gender (r=0.423, p<0.001). Men holds more conservative beliefs than women on LG sexual orientation (t(102.046)=-4.908,p<.001), presenting also high values of violence against LG people.