Overview of our pilot-survey

Our pilot study aimed to explore prejudices about homosexuals (homophobia) among Hungarian secondary school students. In Hungary the above mentioned topic has received little scientific attention especially the examination of homophobia among the high school population. Considering the sensitivity of the topic and potential level of involvement of the age group we decided to perform the research in the form of an online questionnaire. Instead of questions and statements explicitly targeting homophobia we applied the Bogardus social distance scale as a research tool reworded to the targeted age group. We compared the prejudices by gender and school type. In our study we compared also the attitudes toward gays and lesbians, and prejudicious attitudes on Gypsies (Roma) and refugees. Statistically Chi-square tests were conducted. In most of the cases, the difference was visible, however, due to the relatively low sample number some differences were not significant. We found significant difference, among boys of vocational high school students who proved to be more rejective toward the groups of people mentioned before. The attitudes toward lesbians was not varied based on gender, although there was a significant difference based on school type the subjects attended. Toward Gypsies we found highly prejudiced attitude, despite of the rich social contact with this group of people. The high school students were most rejective towards refugees with whom almost none of them had a personal contact. Gays and lesbians compared to Gypsies and refugees got less rejection. In general in the Grammar Schools the girls seem to be more accepting toward minorities examined in our research. The results has a limited validity, however, we found strong negative tendencies. Because of the small sample size and uneven distribution of the samples it would requires further similar studies on the same groups. Anyway there is a worrying degree of prejudice towards some minority groups among high schoolers which necessitates the development of sensitizing educational programs and trainings.

You can see the main results of our survey on the three figures below (their titles are listed below each of them).

1. chart: The rejection rate for the four target groups in seven relations in %

2. chart: Whom the responder know personally in %

1. table: The ratio of the refusers for the question „Would you be a banch mate of a…” divided by gender and school type (the significant variances are highlighted with yellow)