The Multifactor Internalized Homophobia Inventory: Concurrent validation and sociodemographic features of a tool for the measuring of internalized homophobia
Giovanni Battista Flebus, Antonella Montano, Luca Barlascini
A study on a sample of 1100 gay and lesbians has shown a significant correlation between internalized
homophobia, depression and low self-esteem. This result confirms the current literature and gives to
the Multifactor Internalized Homophobia Inventory (MIHI) a good criterion-related validity. MIHI is a
questionnaire consisting of eight scales referring to emotions, feelings, attitudes and beliefs relative
to sexual orientation of homosexual Italian people. The factors linked to internalized homophobia
(regret, fear of coming out, stereotypes and moral condemnation) and the factors associated with a
positive view of homosexuality (integration, counter-prejudice, homosexual marriage and parenthood)
categorize the sample significantly depending on gender, age, education level and other important
socio-demographic variables, such as highlighting the discriminant analysis.
Keywords
Internalized homophobia, depression, self-esteem, concurrent validity, discriminant
analysis.
