Date of Award

8-1986

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

The present investigation employed Wright's self-referent model of relationships in the examination of homosexual relationships. It was hypothesized that the voluntary interdependence and person-qua-person scales would be higher for female homosexuals than for female heterosexuals. For both male and female homosexual relationships, it was hypothesized that ego support value, self-affirmation value, security value, and maintenance difficulty would be higher for homosexuals, with maintenance difficulty being higher for male homosexual love relationships than lesbian love relationships. In terms of love relationships, it was expected that homosexual males would provide lower scores than homosexual females for exclusivity and emotional salience.

Research materials consisted of the Acquaintance Description Form-Final and a background information sheet. These materials were distributed by several contact people. Each homosexual subject described his/her lover and best friend in terms of the Acquaintance Description Form-Final. Love and friend relationships for the homosexual sample were compared with those of a control sample of heterosexuals. Comparisons were made separately for male and female subjects. Tests of differences in male and female homosexual relationships were also conducted.

The results indicated that female homosexual love relationships appeared most similar to heterosexual engagement relationships.

Lesbian relationships also appeared to have significantly greater relationship strength when compared to marriages and heterosexual romantic relationships. Lesbians also provided higher means on several other scales compared to marriages and romantic relationships. Male homosexual love relationships were also most like engagement relationships, even though this finding was not as clear-cut as for females. Gay love relationships were perceived to be significantly greater in relationship strength when compared to all heterosexual groups, and especially when compared to marriages, romantic relationships, and PSSLQs. Male homosexuals' partners were also perceived as being higher in security value when compared to marriages, engagements, and PSSLQs. These relationships seemed no less permanent than other relationships in which there was no formal commitment. Homosexual friend relationships generally tend to be perceived as providing greater emotional salience when compared to heterosexual friendships. In a comparison between male and female homosexual love relationships, none of the overall F ratios were significant. Likewise, when comparing homosexual male and female friend relationships, no significant differences were found.

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