Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Gender, Sex and Sexualities
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1510002
This article is part of the Research Topic Sexuality and Sexual Dysfunctions View all 6 articles

Development of a cross-cultural Scale on Attitudes Toward Gender and Sexual Diversity (AGSD)

Provisionally accepted
Daniel Oleas Daniel Oleas 1Xochitl Garza-Olivares Xochitl Garza-Olivares 2*Fernando Silva Teixeira-Filho Fernando Silva Teixeira-Filho 3Guido Mascialino Guido Mascialino 4*Jose A. Rodas Jose A. Rodas 5,6
  • 1 Universidad Ecotec, Samborondón, Ecuador
  • 2 Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
  • 3 Universidade Estadual Paulista, Assis, Brazil
  • 4 Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
  • 5 Universidad Espiritu Santo, Samborondón, Ecuador
  • 6 University College Dublin, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Attitudes towards gender and sexual diversity can range from acceptance to rejection, influenced by various social, psychological, and cultural factors. In Latin America, instruments tailored to measure these attitudes within specific cultural contexts are limited. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally relevant scale to assess attitudes towards gender and sexual diversity in Ecuador. Methods: The research was conducted in two studies. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on data collected from 225 psychology students to identify the scale's structure. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with 362 students to confirm the factor structure and assess the scale's validity. The final scale comprised 18 items across three factors: Social Coexistence, Moral and Pathological Views, and Stereotypes. Results: The scale demonstrated sound psychometric properties, with acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.74-0.77). Factor loadings ranged from 0.56 to 0.87, confirming the robustness of the scale. Three distinct factors were identified, providing a comprehensive measure of attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity in social, psychological, and behavioural contexts. Conclusion: This scale represents a valuable tool for assessing attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity in Latin American populations. Future research should test its applicability across broader populations and in different Latin American countries to further validate its use and generalizability.

    Keywords: gender and sexual diversity, scale validation, Ecuador, factor analysis, Latin America

    Received: 01 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Oleas, Garza-Olivares, Teixeira-Filho, Mascialino and Rodas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xochitl Garza-Olivares, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
    Guido Mascialino, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.