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Conservative Beliefs, Attitudes Toward Bisexuality, and Willingness to Engage in Romantic and Sexual Activities With a Bisexual Partner

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Abstract

Negative attitudes toward bisexuals have been documented among heterosexuals as well as lesbians/gay men, and a common theme is that bisexuals would not be suitable romantic or sexual partners. While gender, sexual orientation, and attitudes toward bisexuality influence people’s willingness to engage in romantic or sexual activities with a bisexual partner, there are other individual differences that may contribute. The current study examined the associations between four types of conservative beliefs and willingness to engage in romantic/sexual activities with a bisexual partner in a sample of heterosexuals and lesbians/gay men (N = 438). Attitudes toward bisexuality were examined as a mediator of these associations. In general, results indicated that higher social dominance orientation, political conservatism, and essentialist beliefs about the discreteness of homosexuality were associated with lower willingness to engage in romantic/sexual activities with a bisexual partner. Further, more negative attitudes toward bisexuality mediated these associations. There were several meaningful differences in these associations between heterosexual women, heterosexual men, lesbian women, and gay men, suggesting that influences on people’s willingness to be romantically or sexually involved with a bisexual partner may differ for different gender and sexual orientation groups. Implications for reducing stigma and discrimination against bisexual individuals are addressed.

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Notes

  1. We considered using a latent factor to represent conservative beliefs. However, model fit indices and factor loadings for the latent factor indicated that, while related, the four types of conservative beliefs do not represent a unitary construct.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to Brian A. Feinstein (Grant No. 1315232). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2700, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Brian A. Feinstein

  2. Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Christina Dyar, Vickie Bhatia, Jessica A. Latack & Joanne Davila

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  1. Brian A. Feinstein
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  2. Christina Dyar
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Correspondence to Brian A. Feinstein.

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Feinstein, B.A., Dyar, C., Bhatia, V. et al. Conservative Beliefs, Attitudes Toward Bisexuality, and Willingness to Engage in Romantic and Sexual Activities With a Bisexual Partner. Arch Sex Behav 45, 1535–1550 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0642-x

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