Multilevel Analysis of Factors Related to anti-Homosexual Attitudes in Eastern Europe

Yuka Minagawa , Sophia University

While public intolerance toward homosexuality remains remarkably high in the former Soviet Republics, mechanisms behind strong homonegativity remain to be explored. Using the World Values Survey (2010-2014) data, this paper investigates individual and country-level factors that explain anti-homosexual attitudes among 14,392 people in 10 former Soviet countries. Results based on multilevel analysis show that people’s attitudes toward homosexuality are influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors, such as age, gender, educational attainment, the place of residence, and religious denominations. Further, country-level factors, including the pace of post-Soviet economic reforms and the levels of democracy, are associated with negative attitudes toward homosexuality. These results suggest that individual characteristics and a country’s economic and social structure, independently as well as jointly, contribute to the formation of anti-homosexual attitudes in this part of the world. Efforts toward improving a country’s economic and social structure may lead to broader acceptance of minority groups, including homosexual individuals.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy