Authoritarianism as Mediator of the Effect of Personality Traits on Students' Prejudices toward Homosexuals

Abstract

Negative attitudes toward homosexuals are just one of many that are often expressed toward various minority groups. There are numerous determinants of negative attitudes towards stigmatized groups, and personality traits are certainly one of them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits, authoritarianism and attitudes against homosexuals. The study included 583 students (443 female and 139 male) of different universities in the Republic of Croatia, with an average age of 21 years. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire that examined the Big Five personality traits, an Authoritarianism scale and also a Scale of attitudes toward homosexuals. The results show a significant negative correlation of openness to experience and negative attitudes towards homosexuals and a positive one between conscientiousness and authoritarianism and the negative attitudes. Also, authoritarianism is a mediating variable in the relationship between openness and conscientiousness and attitudes toward homosexuals. The obtained results are discussed in the context of existing models and research results.