Age and Attitudes about the Rights of Homosexuals: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Application

To begin this exercise, examine the attitudes toward the three measures of homosexual rights. First, look at the frequency tables for GAYMARRY, GAYADOPT, and GAYTEACH. Which of these three rights has been viewed as the most acceptable in Houston during the period of interest?

Age and Attitudes about Gay Rights

Next, think about the relationship between the three measures of attitudes toward rights and age. To aid in the analyses, we have recoded the age variable into a new variable called "AGE4" which groups the respondents into four age categories: 18-34; 35-49; 50-64; and 65-95. Now look at the crosstab of GAYMARRY by AGE4. What percentage of the youngest respondents is supportive of equal legal rights for same-sex marriages?

When you look at the crosstabs for GAYADOPT by AGE4 and GAYTEACH by AGE4, can you conclude that the oldest respondents in the population are the least favorable toward these rights for homosexuals?

Attitudes about Gay Rights 1991 - 2006

Also consider whether or not people have become more supportive of the rights of homosexuals over the past 15 years or so. Examine the crosstab of GAYMARRY by YEAR. The dataset's codebook tells us that this question was asked in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2007, hence there are seven columns. In which year do respondents show the greatest support for gay marriage? In which year is there the least support among respondents?

Next look at the crosstab of GAYADOPT by YEAR. This question was also asked in seven different years (1991, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006). Does support for the legal right of homosexuals to adopt a child appear to be increasing, decreasing, or fluctuating in recent years?

Finally, consider support for homosexuals teaching in public schools. You can conduct both a crosstab and a comparison of means test. First, in the crosstab of GAYTEACH by YEAR, notice that the question was asked in four different years. Because the GAYTEACH variable (the GAYADOPT and GAYMARRY variables as well) is constructed as a binary variable where respondents who do not support the right are coded as a "0," and respondents who do support the right are coded as a "1," the mean score for the variable is the proportion of respondents who supported the measure. Use a comparison of means test of GAYTEACH by YEAR. Compare the percentages in the top row of the crosstab to the proportions in the column of the comparison of means test. The values are equivalent. Do respondents seem to be more tolerant of homosexuals teaching in the public schools in 2006 than in 1991?

Attitudinal Change among Age Cohorts?

Because this dataset contains a series of successive samples, it is possible to test whether any observed differences among the age groups and across the years are cohort effects (people born about the same year having similar attitudes) or a learning/experience effect (attitudinal change over the life course). A cohort is a group of people born around the same time. Thus, a cohort born in 1942 would have been 49 years old in 1991, and 64 years old in 2006.

To create the cohort variable, we computed the respondent's birth year by subtracting the respondent's age from the year the survey was taken. Next, we grouped respondents into age cohorts that roughly corresponded to the age groups that we have been using (18-34, 35-49, 50-64, and 65+) in 1991 and 2006. By doing this we are hoping to look at how these cohorts have changed over time with regard to their attitudes toward gay rights. The age cohorts do fit our age groups perfectly in 2006, but because different questions were asked in different years, the overall fit of age group to the year the questions were asked is not perfect. Still, it is a reasonably close approximation. The cohort variable is called "AGECOHORT."

Consider the results of a comparison of means where GAYMARRY is the dependent variable (each cell in the table shows the proportion of support), AGECOHORT is the row variable (each row shows an age group cohort), and YEAR is the column variable (each column shows the results from the year the question was asked.) Because we are interested in a comparison of two points in time (the first year the question was asked and the last year), we have restricted our output by using a selection filter on the year. For this analysis, we want only 1993 and 2007, the 12th and 26th years the survey was administered, so our filter is (YEAR 12, 26). We also have included a confidence interval table to help us interpret any observed differences. Looking at the table, what can we say about change in support for same-sex marriage in Houston among these age cohorts?

To be consistent, look at two additional comparison of means tests. First, a test of GAYADOPT by AGECOHORT by YEAR for the years 1991 and 2006 (filter YEAR 10, 25). Also, a test of GAYTEACH by AGECOHORT by YEAR for the years 1992 and 2006 (filter YEAR 11, 25). Earlier analyses have shown that support for these rights has increased over these years and that older people are less supportive than younger. Looking at the two tables, do you feel that the observed increase in support from 1991 to 2006 is more of a reflection of the sample containing more young people (and people who were born later) or a change in attitude within age group cohorts?

Note: The online data analysis system (DAS) used on this site uses a system called Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA), developed and maintained by the Computer-assisted Survey Methods Program (CSM) at the University of California, Berkeley. Documentation for DAS/SDA can be found on their Web site.

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography