Students Beliefs about Same Sex Couples and Family Therapy
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze student therapist’s level of agreement
with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s (AAMFT) formal
statements concerning lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons and families;
specifically, it examined student’s level of agreement with the AAMFT’s definition of
Marriage/Couple and Family Therapy (CFT), and the AAMFT’s formal statement
concerning same sex couples. This was explored via the participant’s qualitative and
quantitative answers. The study used an existing data set consisting of 248 participants;
62.6% were enrolled in a masters program and 36.8% were enrolled in a PhD CFT
program. Participant’s quantitative responses indicated that a large majority of
participants agreed with the statements, and were in support of the AAMFT inviting same
sex couples to receive therapeutic services. However, the qualitative responses also
indicated that some participants disagreed with the statements, and did not hold accepting
beliefs towards LGB persons and families.