They are studying the homaphobes now!! Interesting finding.
Homophobic People Often Have Psychological Issues
by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | September 11, 2015 08:41am ET
Homophobic attitudes may say a lot about the person who holds them, new research suggests.
A new study of university students in Italy revealed that people who have strongly negative views of gay people also have higher levels of psychoticism and inappropriate coping mechanisms than those who are accepting of homosexuality.
This doesn't mean that homophobic people are psychotic; rather, psychoticism is a personality trait marked by hostility, anger and aggression toward others. But the study does suggest that people who cling to homophobic views have some psychological issues, said lead researcher Emmanuele Jannini, an endocrinologist and medical sexologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
"The study is opening a new research avenue, where the real disease to study is homophobia," Jannini told Live Science. [7 Thoughts That Are Bad for You]
The psychology of homophobia
Homophobia and anger
Overall, the better the mental health of the person (based on the responses to the questionnaire), the less likely he or she was to be homophobic, the researchers found. People with "fearful-avoidant" attachment styles, who tend to feel uncomfortable in close relationships with others, were significantly more homophobic than those who were secure with close relationships. The researchers also found that people with higher levels of immature defense mechanisms were more homophobic than those with mature defense mechanisms.
High levels of hostility and anger, measured as psychoticism, were also linked to homophobia, the researchers found.
But other mental health issues had the opposite association: Depression and neurotic defense mechanisms (like hypochondria or repression) were both linked with lower levels of homophobia.
MORE: http://www.livescience.com/52146-homophobia-personality-traits.html
