Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.
Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2018 May;47(4):1109-1117. doi: 10.1007/s10508-018-1165-z. Epub 2018 Feb 23.
Disgust has been shown to perform a "disease-avoidance" function in contamination fears. However, no studies have examined the relevance of disgust to obsessive-compulsive (OC) concerns about sexual orientation (e.g., fear of one's sexual orientation transforming against one's will, and compulsive avoidance of same-sex and/or gay or lesbian individuals to prevent that from happening). Therefore, we investigated whether the specific domain of contamination-based disgust (i.e., evoked by the perceived threat of transmission of essences between individuals) predicted OC concerns about sexual orientation, and whether this effect was moderated/amplified by obsessive beliefs, in evaluation of a "sexual orientation transformation-avoidance" function. We recruited 283 self-identified heterosexual college students (152 females, 131 males; mean age = 20.88 years, SD = 3.19) who completed three measures assessing disgust, obsessive beliefs, and OC concerns about sexual orientation. Results showed that contamination-based disgust (β = .17), responsibility/threat overestimation beliefs (β = .15), and their interaction (β = .17) each uniquely predicted OC concerns about sexual orientation, ts = 2.22, 2.50, and 2.90, ps < .05. Post hoc probing indicated that high contamination-based disgust accompanied by strong responsibility/threat overestimation beliefs predicted more severe OC concerns about sexual orientation, β = .48, t = 3.24, p < .001. The present study, therefore, provided preliminary evidence for a "sexual orientation transformation-avoidance" process underlying OC concerns about sexual orientation in heterosexual college students, which is facilitated by contamination-based disgust, and exacerbated by responsibility/threat overestimation beliefs. Treatment for OC concerns about sexual orientation should target such beliefs.
厌恶感在污染恐惧中表现出“疾病回避”的功能。然而，目前还没有研究考察厌恶感与强迫症（OC）对性取向的关注之间的相关性（例如，担心自己的性取向违背自己的意愿发生转变，以及为了防止这种情况发生而强迫性地回避同性和/或同性恋个体）。因此，我们研究了基于污染的厌恶感（即由个体之间的本质传播感知威胁引起的）是否能预测 OC 对性取向的关注，以及在评估“性取向转变回避”功能时，这种效应是否被强迫观念增强/放大。我们招募了 283 名自我认同为异性恋的大学生（152 名女性，131 名男性；平均年龄 20.88 岁，标准差 3.19），他们完成了三项评估厌恶感、强迫观念和 OC 对性取向关注的测量。结果表明，基于污染的厌恶感（β=0.17）、责任/威胁高估信念（β=0.15）及其交互作用（β=0.17）各自独立预测 OC 对性取向的关注，t 值分别为 2.22、2.50 和 2.90，p 值均小于 0.05。事后探测表明，强烈的基于污染的厌恶感伴随着强烈的责任/威胁高估信念，预测出对性取向的 OC 关注更为严重，β=0.48，t=3.24，p<0.001。因此，本研究为异性恋大学生 OC 对性取向的关注提供了初步证据，表明存在一种“性取向转变回避”过程，这种过程受到基于污染的厌恶感的促进，并且受到责任/威胁高估信念的放大。针对 OC 对性取向的关注的治疗应该针对这些信念。
