Michèle Venet

The relationship between attitudes towards and knowledge of sexual diversity / La relación entre actitudes y conocimientos sobre diversidad sexual

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the links between the participants’ knowledge of sex roles, sexual behaviour and the realities of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth on the one hand, and their attitudes towards homosexuality and bisexuality on the other. One hundred and fourteen university students from different education programmes answered a questionnaire to identify their knowledge and attitudes. Descriptive statistics show that these future teachers knew little about the three topics evaluated and that their attitudes towards homosexual and bisexual people are ‘neither positive nor negative’. Correlational statistics show a positive link between knowledge and the participants’ attitudes. This study suggests new ways to improve training programmes for future teachers to prevent discrimination and bullying against homosexual and bisexual students.