Thursday, November 10. 1977
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7
Study says gay couples can love
By JOE RADCLIFFE
For the Kansan
A researcher at the University of Kansas has compared homosexual and heterosexual relationships and concluded between the two in satisfaction and adjustment.
University Daily Kansan
Dennis Dailey, associate professor of social welfare, has concluded in a limited pilot study that homosexuals can and have meaningful long-term relationships like couples who live together or are married. The study is one of the first of its
"The myth," Dalley said, recently, "is that relationship between gays can't exist, that it's unnatural. But in some ways they do have meaningful relationships and in some ways they don't, just like heterosexuals."
Dalley said the study had to be viewed with a great deal of caution because only about 70 people participated in the research because of a lack of funds.
DAILEY SAID that because of the small sample, generalizations should not be drawn. He said his results warranted more extensive research on the subject.
The year-long study is titled: "Correlates of Permanent Pairing Success in a University Research Allocation Funded through the University's general research allocation. Dalley recently presented the study in Las Vegas at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex
The study involved 14 married couples, 12 couples living together and 10 gay couples—five male and five female. All of the couples had been together for one to five years. None had received any type of formal education and none of the couples had children.
PARTICIPANTS completed seven questionnaires that measured aspects of the project.
The questionnaires were developed and used by researchers studying mainly heterosexual relationships, but Dalley said that the tests he chose also could be used for homosexuals without any changes in wording.
After the study, all of the couples said the questionnaires were relevant to their needs.
The first questionnnaire assessed the quality of the relationship, or how well the couple had adjusted. Several other things also were measured, including satisfaction with the relationship, cohesion, agreement and mutual understanding and how affection is expressed. Dalley said,
Dailey found that although all the couples had adjusted well, the gay couples were slightly less well-adjusted than couples who were married or living together.
IN THE AREAS of satisfaction, cohesion and affection, little difference was found among the three groups. But gays showed less agreement in their relationships than married couples. Dailey said this could be because society did not sanction the lack of agreement and therefore produced a lack of agreement in gay couples about their relationships.
“It’s harder to maintain relationships when there is no support for that relationship.” Dalley said. “Not being accepted is a bad state to be in.”
The second part of the study was a set of questionnaires that determined how "normal" the participants were in addition to measuring their sexual satisfaction, satisfaction as a couple, self-esteem and general contentment.
Dailey's results indicated that self-esteem, satisfaction as couples and general contentment were about the same for gays as for heterosexual couples.
COHABITATING COUPLES had fewer sexual problems than either gay or married couples, but the study also indicated that none of the groups had serious problems in any of the areas. All were considered about "normal."
When the data were analyzed according to sex, it was found that gay females had a problem with self-esteem and general contentment. Because the women in all three groups had somewhat lower self-esteem scores, Dauley said, being gay and having a gay produce a two-fold problem that makes a positive self-image difficult to develop.
Although lesbians seem more accepted in society, Dalley said "We underestimate how difficult it is to be a lesbian in our society" and to be a woman, which is also difficult in our society."
The Caring Relationships inventory was the third questionnaire and measured the essential elements of love or caring in the relationship as split into seven categories: affection, friendship, eros or sensual love, love of being, love being - love and deficiency-love.
Dailey said that result would seem to challenge the notion that the love expressed by gays is "unnatural" or really not love at all.
ALL OF THE GROUPS scored about the love in affection, friendship, and self-love.
One difference was in the area of empathy. Couples living together scored higher than married couples in this category, indicating that they love for cohabiting couples. Dallas said.
Gay females had significantly less self-love than females who were married or divorced.
The only part of the study in which there was a significant difference between gay and heterosexual couples was in the area of being-love and deficiency-love.
Dalley said that being-love—the positive expression of love—is more admiring and respecting, less interfering and demanding. Deficiency-love—a negative expression of love—is more manipulative and exploitive, he said.
consistent, Dalley said, with their lower self-esteem scores.
DEFICIENCY-LOVE, Daisley said, happens when someone manipulates a partner to have a need met. People with needs for affection may show disappointment when their needs are not met, but the partners in their partnership fulfill their needs.
Although any relationship will have both kinds of love, the study indicated that gay couples' love was characterized by more deficiency-love than being-love. This was the only instance where gay couples differed from married or living-together couples.
"IT'S ONE OF THE more important items," he said, "but not the most important. Relationships are a lot more complex than that."
Dalley agreed that the area was one of the essences of any relationship but added that satisfaction and adjustment were just as important.
Dalley said there were many reasons why gay relationships may be more common.
"I don't know all the reasons," he said. "They may have to be more manipulative in
the relationship just to keep it together in the face of societal oppression. "
A sex-role inventory, the final question-
nausea, was given to determine how the sub-
ject feels.
The study showed that the males had predominantly masculine or adrogynous traits, while the females' traits were mostly feminine or androgynous. Dailey said this indicated that the stereotyped opinion of gays lacked support.
There is a myth that homosexuals are sissies," he said. "But the study shows that gay men are masculine and gay women are feminine." And their sex-role self-endorsements."
Dailey said that another, more extensive study using a larger national sample was needed and that he planned to seek funds to do the study.
"My hope," he said, "Is to repeat the research on a national level with a larger, more diverse group."
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