ISSN: 2576-0319
Authors: Ned James Beedie
Very little research exists on the process of aging among gay men. The number of men self-identifying as gay over the age of 65 will be close to a million and a half by 2030. However, what is known about how these men have aged, what they experience, and will experience is mostly unknown. This study examined the relationship among internalized homophobia, life satisfaction, and attitudes toward aging in 209 gay men between the ages of 18 to 77 (M = 42.86; SD = 14.83). Participants completed online versions of the Internalized Homophobia Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Aging Attitudes toward Gay Men Scale, which was constructed for this study. The Aging Attitudes scale consisted of two vignettes that differed only in the age of the character (25 or 65 years), and 10 questions designed to evaluate the well-being of the character. Covariates were identified for the scales, and the scores for each scale were found to be normally distributed. As expected, a significant one-tailed partial correlation between internalized homophobia and age emerged. Contrary to expectation, the 156 White/Caucasians had a significantly higher internalized homophobia score than the 50 non-White/Caucasians. Consistent with the expectation that the participants would exhibit some ageist attitudes, the 25-year-old vignette was rated significantly more positively than the 65-year-old vignette. As hypothesized, both vignettes of the Aging Attitudes scale showed significant positive partial correlations with satisfaction with life, but the expected negative correlation between the Aging Attitudes scale and internalized homophobia did not emerge. This study is one of the first in the literature to examine attitudes about aging among gay men, and describe how those attitudes are associated with their level of life satisfaction, but not their level of internalized homophobia. The clinical implications are wide as it is important to understand the challenges of aging that gay men experience throughout their development. The finding that gay men can have a high level of internalized homophobia and still acknowledge a generally satisfactory attitude toward aging deserves further exploration.
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