Attitudes toward sexual diversity in sport among undergraduate students of physical activity and sport sciences in Spain

Abstract

Sexual diversity in the world of sport has not been widely researched in the Spanish context. Studies on national and international sexual diversity tend to leave out transgender issues and intersexuality. The new framework of action of the International Olympic Committee in 2021 advocates for integration and non-discrimination based on gender identity and sex variations in sport. We analyzed attitudes toward sexual diversity in sport among a sample of PASS university students using the Scale of Attitudes Toward Sexual Diversity Among Athletes and the statistical package R. Each item was subjected to frequency analysis and the results were displayed in contingency tables. The sample comprised 610 students from three Spanish universities (68.85% male and 31.15% female, with a mean age of 21.72 years; SD = 4.12). Of the four factors analyzed, the lowest levels of rejection were Cognitive Attitudes (96.72%) and Attitudes Toward Transgression (86.89%). One of the most important variables was gender, with women showing greater tolerance toward sexual diversity in sport than men.