Homophobic Content Agent Target (HCAT) is a 10-item scale to assess the frequency with which students acted as perpetrators or were victims of homophobic verbal content within the past week. The measure contains two scales: agent and target. This measure has also been validated among a sample in Spain here.
Geographies Tested: United States of America
Populations Included: Female, Male
Age Range: Adolescents
Agent
Some kids call each other names such as gay, lesbo, fag, etc. How many times in the last week did you say these things to:
1. A friend
2. Someone I did not know
3. Someone I did not like.
4. Someone I thought was gay
5. Someone I did not think was gay
Target
How many times in the last week did the following people call you these things:
6. A friend
7. Someone I did not know
8. Someone who did not like me
9. Someone I thought was gay
10. Someone I did not think was gay
Response Options:
Never
1 or 2 times
3 or 4 times
5 or 6 times
7 or more times
The sum of each of the two subscales is summed to create the subscale score. Higher scores indicate greater use of homophobic content within the past week (agent subscale) and greater extent of being called these names (target subscale).
Poteat, V. P., & Espelage, D. L. (2005). Exploring the relation between bullying and homophobic verbal content: The Homophobic Content Agent Target (HCAT) Scale. Violence and Victims, 20(5), 513-528. https://doi.org/10.1891/vivi.2005.20.5.513
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Evidence-based Measures of Empowerment for Research on Gender Equality (EMERGE)
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