Public Opinion Quarterly Advance Access originally published online on May 21, 2008
Public Opinion Quarterly 2008 72(2):311-330; doi:10.1093/poq/nfn017
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Cohort Differences in Tolerance of Homosexuality
Attitudinal Change in Canada and the United States, 1981–2000
Address correspondence to Robert Andersen; e-mail: bob.andersen{at}utoronto.ca.
Using data from the World Values Surveys, we explore trends in tolerance of homosexuality in Canada and the United States from 1981 to 2000. Particular attention is given to the effects of birth cohort. Consistent with previous research, we find that younger cohorts are typically the most tolerant of homosexuality. We also find that Canadians are more liberal than Americans. Most interesting, however, is the remarkable degree of change over time within cohorts, especially in Canada. These findings suggest that attitudes toward homosexuality during this period were an exception to the age-stability hypothesis, which claims that opinions on controversial social issues are formed by early adulthood, and change little with age. We speculate that differing political climate across country and time is responsible for the significant differences in public opinion.
ROBERT ANDERSEN is with Department of Sociology, Room 372, University of Toronto, 725 Spadina Ave, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2J4, Canada. TINA FETNER is with Department of Sociology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Ontario L8S 4M4, Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. The authors would like to thank Jeremy Freese, Edward Grabb, David F. Greenberg, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.