Abstract
Objective: This study sought to determine whether male clinical psychologists (CPs) exhibited clinical bias (CB) against gay men by examining the clinical judgments and attitudes of CPs towards their male clients (CLs) and the attitudes of CPs toward gender roles.
Methods: A questionnaire was given to 200 randomly sampled male CPs. In the questionnaire, CPs read a clinical vignette about a male CL and rated the CL on several clinical dimensions. There were two versions of the questionnaire. In the vignette, the sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual) of the client was manipulated. After completing the questionnaire, a separate scale was used to measure how liberated the attitudes of the CPs were towards gender roles.
Results: Seventy-seven (77) completed surveys were returned (the return rate was 38.5%). Most of the CPs' attitudes toward gender roles were liberated. A variance analysis revealed a significant effect only for CL sexual orientation. The effect for CPs'attitudes toward gender roles and the interaction of the two factors were not significant. Regardless of the CPs' attitudes toward gender roles, they showed more negative attitudes toward the homosexual CL.
Conclusion: Contrary to the hypothesis, the results did not confirm CPs' CB related to attitudes toward gender roles. However the results didn't suggest the absence of CB by the CPs. The lack of significant findings might stem from the problem of the scale used, the method of stimuli presentation, and so on. It was concluded that more applicable methodologies need to be developed. Future studies will focus on different methodologies to measure the possibility of CB.
