A comparative study between male homosexuals' and heterosexuals' perceived paternal acceptance-rejection in childhood

The present study examined the responses of male homosexuals' and heterosexuals' perceptions of their parent's behavior as a function of the subject's sexual orientation. The research population consisted of 117 male homosexuals and 56 male heterosexuals. The homosexual sample was derived from a nationwide sample, while the heterosexual sample was primarily a university population. Three tasks were administered to each subject in both groups. Each respondent first completed a personal information questionnaire which solicited data on age, income, and family background: In addition, the homosexual sample completed a. personal information section involving more specific information on sexual behavior and preferences. The. second task involved the Children's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory, an instrument designed to measure an individual's perceptions of his mother's and father's behavior toward himself (the individual). Subjects evaluated their parents as they would have at age 16. The third task involved a measurement of neurotic personality traits as defined by the Maudsley Personality inventory.Numerous conclusions were made. relative to homosexual parental relationships and later relationships of a sexual nature. A major finding of the study was that the homosexual sample was less neurotic than the heterosexual population used as a norm.The following general conclusions were drawn from the findings of the study:1. Neurosis is a personality disorder not significantly associated with homosexuality per se.2. Parental acceptance and autonomy may be key factors in promoting non-neurotic personality development in early childhood.3. Homsexuals do no view themselves as meeting culturally prescribed standards of the masculine sex-role.4. The majority of homosexuals engage in frequent promisuous sexual relations with a large number of partners5. Promiscuous sexual behavior is more related to relationship needs than to purely sexual needs.6. Homosexual behavior can best be viewed as "sexual acting-out" behavior which attempts to "repair" or meet early childhood strivings for paternal love and affection needs.7. The psychodynamics in the etiology of homosexuality are similar to those in the development of heterosexuality, with reversed poles. The male child, having supressed his heterosexual desires for the mother because of her own repressed incestuous inhibitions, seeks a reparitive relationshp with a detached or hostile father through a vicarious relationship with the mother.8. Parents who wish to facilitate heterosexual development in their sons should foster an affectionate, accepting relationship with the son in which the mother and father have a good love relationship with one another.Thesis (M.A.