Status quo and predictors of Weibo users’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland: Analysis based on supervised machine learning and provincial panel data

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Frank Andrasik¹  Sheng Xu²  Quan Zheng²  Ziyi Kuang²  Xiangen Hu³  Zhen Wang⁴  Ying Guo⁵ 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States;School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China;Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China;School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China;Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China;Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States;School of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, China;School of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China;

关键词: consensual same-sex relations;    attitude;    lesbians and gay men;    Chinese mainland;    Weibo;    social media;    natural language processing;    machine learning;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1069589

 received in 2022-10-14, accepted in 2023-01-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionPublic attitudes toward consensual same-sex relations are crucial to lesbians’ and gay men’s rights and society’s well-being, but research addressing this topic in China is limited. We comprehensively explored the current status and predictors of Weibo users’ attitudes toward individuals who are lesbian or gay (IWLG) at the provincial level in the Chinese mainland.MethodsNatural language processing and machine learning techniques were incorporated to analyze 1,934,008 Weibo posts from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2020, to evaluate Weibo users’ expressed attitudes toward IWLG in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland guided by the ABC Model of attitude.ResultsAlthough the general attitudes, feelings, and support for the rights of Weibo users toward IWLG among different provinces were relatively positive, knowledge about IWLG was noticeably inaccurate. Economic development and educational level positively predicted certain aspects of attitudes at the provincial level.ConclusionWeibo users from different provinces are generally supportive and accepting of people who are gay and the rights of the gay community. However, considerable misconceptions and inaccurate knowledge of IWLG surfaced in Weibo users’ posts. Economic development and educational level were important predictors of specific attitudes toward IWLG at the provincial level. Increased efforts to address the unbalanced and insufficient development between different provinces could help reduce the public’s prejudice, stigma, and discrimination toward IWLG. Policies that facilitate greater implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education sequentially and effectively are suggested as well.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Zheng, Guo, Wang, Andrasik, Kuang, Xu and Hu.