Impact of Disgust Sensitivity on Custody Adjudications

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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.