Discriminatory attitudes relationship to attachment styles, selfconstrual and sociodemographic variables in university students

Abstract

Forms of discrimination such as racism, homophobia, and sexism have been negatively affecting the individuals that are being exposed to these both in daily life and in public aspect. In this study, the relationship between discriminatory attitudes, attachment styles, self-construal and sociodemographic variables were examined. Differences in discriminatory attitudes in terms of gender and class level variables were also investigated. The sample of the study consisted of 279 university students attending the different departments of a faculty of education in a public university in Turkey. The data were collected with Sociodemographic Data Form, Discriminatory Attitudes Scale, Relational, Individual and Collective Self-Aspects Scale and Relationship Scales Questionnaire. The data were analyzed via SPSS software. According to the results of the study, homosexual discrimination is significantly and positively related to relatedness sub-scale of Self-Aspects Scale. Discrimination against woman was found as significantly and positively related to secure attachment style, on the other hand secure attachment style was found as significantly and negatively related to discrimination against foreigners. The sociodemographic variables like religiosity, political ideology, the level of contact with different cultures and a number of the books read within a year were found as significantly related to discriminatory attitudes. Also, differences in discriminatory attitudes by gender and class level were found. In relation with these findings, suggestions for further studies were presented. Keywords: discrimination; discriminatory attitudes; university students; education;