Effects of sexual orientation and age of male homosexuals on the MMPI profiles

Abstract

The present study which was done in Istanbul aimed at obtaining data on male homosexuals in terms of their HNPI profiles which might be used in school counseling programs in order to screen out the students with similar problems. The homosexual sample of this study was convinently selected while the non-homosexual sample was randomly selected from Savaşır's data (1981). The design of the study was composed of four groups A, B, C, and D. The A and B groups consisted of thirty-six male homosexuals between the ages 16-63. On the other hand, the C and D groups were composed of thirty-six non-homosexual men between the same age range. In his study, three instruments were used. A demographic interview from which was developed by the researcher was marely given to the male homosexuals. Then, depth interviews were conducted with some of the male homosexual subjects. Eventually, the MMPI was used for all subjects; homosexuals as well as non-homosexuals. The three hypotheses of the study were related to the personality structures of the male homosexuals and male nonhomosexuals. To test the hypotheses, comparisons of the four groups (young homosexuals, young non-homosexuals, older homosexuals and older non-homosexuals) was made through two-way analysis of variance. The comparison of the young homosexual men with young non-homosexual men on their MMPI profiles indicated that there were significant differences on the F, Hs, D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, Sc Ma and Si scales of the MMPI while the comparison of the older male homosexuals with older male non-homosexuals on their MMPI profiles showed that there were significant differences on the F, Hs, D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, Sc, Ma and Si scales. Finally, the comparison of the male homosexuals with their non-homosexual counterparts indicated that there were significant differences on the F, Hs, D, Hy, Pd, Pa, Pt, Sc, Ma and Si scales of the MMPI. Male homosexuals had higher SCOTes than the non-homosexual men. These findings strongl'/ substantiated the first hypothesis of the study which stated that: SEXUAL ORIENTATION MAKES SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON THE MMPI SCALES OF THE MALES BETWEEN THE AGES OF 16-63. The comparision of the young homosexual men with the older male homosexuals indicated that young homosexuals got higher scores on the F, D, Pd, Pa, Pt and Sc scales of the MMPI. These findings supported the second hypothesis of the study which stated that AGE MAKES SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON THE MHPI SCALES OF THE HOt10SEXUAL MEN. On the other hand, the last hypothesis of the study which stated that the INTERACTION OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND AGE MAKES SIGNIFICANT EFFECTS ON THE MMPI SCALES OF THE HOMOSEXUAL MALES were confirmed on the Pd and Pa scales of the MMPI.