Impact of Disgust Sensitivity on Custody Adjudications

Data in Stata FormatData saved in STATA format. Does pathogenic disgust sensitivity differentially bias the evaluation of same-sex liaisons across gender? Participants (n=191) recruited on Amazon Turk were presented with a child custody dispute concerning the propriety of a post-divorce homosexual liaison undertaken by a parent. Gender of the homosexual liaison was randomly varied. Pathogenic disgust sensitivity predicted a willingness to remove custody and impose visitation restrictions after the gay male but not the lesbian liaison. Pathogenic disgust sensitivity also correlated with normative positions that might also predict a gender bias: moral traditionalism, sexual prejudice, and traditional gender role beliefs. But even after controlling for these normative positions pathogenic disgust sensitivity predicted a willingness to remove custody and impose restrictions only in the gay male condition. This suggests that pathogenic disgust elicitors are associated with gay male but not lesbian liaisons. Legal implications are also discussed.