A comparison of the satisfaction with a residence hall living situation of gay/lesbian residents with heterosexual residents as measured by the University Residence Environment Scale and a gay/lesbian awareness workshop program for university residence hall assistants

In the first part of the study, fifteen female homosexuals, fifteen male homosexuals, fifteen male heterosexuals, and fifteen female heterosexuals were classified as such using the Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale (KHHRS). Additionally, these subjects were, at the time, residing in a university residence hall. The scores from their KHHRS determined in which of two groups each subject was placed. Those subjects whose KHHRS score was either 0 or 1 were placed in the heterosexual group. Those subjects whose KHHRS was either 5 or 6 were placed in the homosexual group.

The subjects were also asked to complete the University Residence Environment Scale (URES) to determine their attitudes about living in a university residence hall.

Sixty subjects were recruited from three universities, with twenty subjects from each university. Three universities were included in three states in order to obtain information from more than one area. One university was in the northeast, one was in the mid-Atlantic region, and the third university was in the Appalachian region of the United States. The twenty subjects from each university included five male homosexuals, five female homosexuals, five male heterosexuals and five female heterosexuals. Each subject was living in a residence hall on a floor where all the residents were of the same gender.

It was hypothesized that homosexual residents were more dissatisfied with their residence hall living experience than were heterosexual residents.

In the second part of the study, a homosexual awareness workshop for residence hall assistants, at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was conducted and evaluated. Twenty residence hall assistants volunteered to participate in this part of the study. Ten subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group and ten were randomly assigned to the control group. The experimental group participated in a four-session homosexual awareness workshop. The control group participated in a four-session workshop that did not deal with homosexual awareness. Upon completion of the treatments, both groups completed a questionnaire which determined one's thoughts or feelings about homosexuality.

It was hypothesized that the residence hall assistants who had participated in a homosexual awareness workshop would become significantly more permissive and accepting towards homosexuality as a concept and homosexuals as human beings than would residence hall assistants who participated in a workshop that did not deal with homosexual awareness.

The results of this study supported both hypotheses. The homosexual residents reported being less satisfied with university residence hall living than did the heterosexual residents. And a workshop on homosexual awareness resulted in residence hall assistants' attitudes becoming more permissive and accepting towards homosexuality as a concept and homosexuals as people.