Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Among Hong Kong Chinese Social Work Students

Abstract

There is a dearth of research on social work students’ attitudes toward lesbians and gays in East Asian countries where intolerance toward nonheterosexuality has been documented. This article presents findings from the first study in Hong Kong using a Chinese version of Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG) to measure attitudes toward lesbian and gay men of 462 Chinese social work students. We found that students’ attitudes were generally favorable toward lesbians and gay men. Students with Christian beliefs tended to hold negative attitudes, though exposure to sexual diversity training was found to be significantly associated with favorable attitudes. The authors discuss implications of social work education in Hong Kong with reference to its unique cultural context.