Assessing the Dimensionality of Beliefs About Children’s Adjustment in Same-Sex Families Scale (BCASSFS) in Chile

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Beliefs about Children’s Adjustment in Same-Sex Families Scale (BCASSFS) (Frías-Navarro 2009), in terms of confirmation of internal consistency and dimensionality via confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, we set out to validate this scale using the Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (ATLG) Scale Cardenas and Barrientos (The Journal of Sex Research 45(2):140–149, 2008a). Finally, we divided our sample into categories with a view to creating a typology (Egalitarian, Normative opponents, Bigots, and Individual opponents). No research to date has confirmed the hypothesized factor structure of the BCASSFS in Latin American countries. Using data from a convenience sample obtained through the application of a survey of heterosexuals at a university in northern Chile (N = 283), a model of two correlated factors was used and the fit indexes obtained. The results indicate that the BCASSFS is a valid and reliable scale for measuring beliefs about children’s adjustment in same-sex families in Chile. Moreover, the findings indicated that responses to BCASSFS could be explained by two factors (individual opposition and normative opposition) and that the two factors were correlated. Finally, differences between “egalitarian,” “normative opponents,” “bigots,” and “individual opponents” in the ATLG scale were examined, statistically significant differences being found between groups in the ATL and ATG subscales.