The Views of Social Work Students Toward Gay and Lesbian Persons : Are They Different from Other Undergraduate Students

T. Cluse-Tolar, E. Lambert, L. Ventura, S. Pasupuleti

Since it is estimated that 2.5 to 9% of men and 1.5 to 4% of women in the U.S. Population are gay or lesbian, it is very likely that social workers will encounter gay or lesbian people as clients, co-workers, and/or supervisors. The Council on Social Work Education stresses nonjudgmentalism and acceptance as important social work values and requires that undergraduate social work students be exposed to content concerning gay and lesbian persons. This study was designed to examine the differences between the views of students choosing a social work major and students choosing other majors. Generally, social work students exhibited more positive attitudes than did students in other majors, even after controlling for personal attributes such as religiosity, gender, age, race, and political affiliation.[Copies are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Center. The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA]