Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

Spring 5-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Richard Beck

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Robert McKelvain

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Scott Perkins

Abstract

Sexual minorities report higher rates of mental illnesses than the general population, most notably depression. This study focuses on the relationship between religious commitment in sexual minorities, internalized homonegativity, and depression. In order to do this, 265 participants answered a survey that consisted of inventories to test for sexual orientation, religious commitment, political and religious views, and internalized homonegativity. Participants came from Abilene Christian University and LGBT groups from the surrounding Abilene, Texas area. Of the 265 participants, 33 self-identified as a sexual minority. The data from those that identified as a sexual minority was analyzed to find correlations between religious commitment, political views, internalized homonegativity, and depression. The results from the data analysis show that there is a significant correlation between religious commitment and internalized homonegativity and a significant correlation between internalized homonegativity and depression. Data analysis was also performed on religious commitment and depression and no significant correlation was found.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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