“Pattern Matters”: a Latent Class Analysis of Internet Use and Users’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in China

Studies have identified an association between Internet use frequency and users’ attitudes toward homosexuality. According to the uses and gratifications perspective, users are diverse in their needs and expectations for using mass media and communication technologies and such diversity might also be involved in their attitudes toward sexual minority people. However, limited research has been conducted to examine this association. This study aimed to develop a typology to illustrate distinct patterns of Internet use patterns and to examine the variation in attitudes towards homosexuality as a function of Internet use patterns. By using a subsample (n = 1021) aged 18–37 years from the Chinese General Social Survey collected in 2017, we performed latent class analysis to identify distinct subgroups of online activity engagement. Multiple ordered logistic regression was used to explore the relationships between the profiles of Internet use and attitudes toward homosexuality. The latent class analysis yielded a typology which classified the Internet users into active participators, pragmatic users, entertainment users, and idle users. Controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and confounding factors as well as weekly hours spent on the Internet, the multivariate analyses indicated that idle users were less likely to accept homosexuality than active participators and pragmatic users were. This study suggests that Internet users’ attitudes toward homosexuality is associated with not only their frequency of Internet use but also their patterns of engagement in online activities. These findings add to the knowledge about the drivers of societal attitudes toward homosexuality and can inform policies to promote inclusion and diversity.