Different Patterns of Sexual Inty Development over Time: Implitns for the Psychologil Adjtment of Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youths - PMC

Contents:

• SEXUAL ORIENTATN INTY DEVELOPMENT MILTON AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER PEOPLE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
• SEXUAL INTY DEVELOPMENT AMONG GAY, LBIAN, AND BISEXUAL YOUTHS: CONSISTENCY AND CHANGE OVER TIME
• CHANG PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-BEG DURG STAG OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT
• REVIEWSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIL ASPECTS OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT
• DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF SEXUAL INTY DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME: IMPLITNS FOR THE PSYCHOLOGIL ADJTMENT OF LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL YOUTHS
• GAY INTY DEVELOPMENT
• AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?

SEXUAL ORIENTATN INTY DEVELOPMENT MILTON AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER PEOPLE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Frd theorized that homosexualy was a rult of problems that arise durg psychosexual velopment, such as boys beg overly attached to and intifyg wh their mother stead of their father, feelg tense stratn anxiety that leads boys to reject women bee they are “strated, ” and narcissistic self-obssn that leads boys to choose an object of attractn that rembl themselv (Lew, 1988). Bieber (1962, 1967, 1969) claimed that male homosexualy was ed by boys havg a posssive and overly volved mother, as well as a hostile or distant father; the dynamics led boys to bond wh their mother and prevented them om velopg their masculy, which led him to effemate homosexualy.

SEXUAL INTY DEVELOPMENT AMONG GAY, LBIAN, AND BISEXUAL YOUTHS: CONSISTENCY AND CHANGE OVER TIME

For female homosexualy, Bieber (1967, 1969) claimed was ed by var parent-child relatnship dynamics, such as mothers beg overly rejectg and cril of their dghters, showg ltle warmth and affectn; this, bed wh “femizg” behavrs, such as not drsg their dghter pretty cloth and not teachg her okg and hoekeepg skills, ntributed to homosexualy. Studi were clud the review if they met the followg creria: (1) llected data om lbian, gay, bisexual, and/or queer people about the timg of their inty velopment ton; (2) llected data the Uned Stat; (3) were wrten English; and (4) were published or pleted on or after January 1, 1990. E., the day the search were performed): (inty OR tone OR velopment) Abstract AND (gay OR lbian OR bisexual OR homosexual OR queer OR “sexual mory” OR “sexual mori”) Abstract AND (“sexual orientatn” Subjects for PsycINFO; sexualy Subject Headg for Soclogil Abstracts).

E., 60–76%) of gay/lbian participants wh smaller reprentatn of bisexual, queer, and other sexual mory inti; five studi had sampl of relatively equal numbers of gay/lbian and bisexual participants; three studi clud participants wh substantial reprentatn of gay/lbian, bisexual, and other sexual orientatn inti; one study nsisted of only bisexual participants; and three studi did not provi breakdowns for sexual orientatn inti.

CHANG PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-BEG DURG STAG OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT

In a study of gay/lbian women, there were no signifint differenc between Black and Hispanic/Lata women, but pared to women of lor, Whe women were signifintly later qutng their orientatn, self-intifyg as gay/lbian, g out, and havg a same-sex romantic relatnship (Parks et al., 2004). Among the seven studi that pared the timg of ton between gay/lbian and bisexual people their analys, most studi found that gay/lbian people reached the ton of attractn and self-intifyg signifintly earlier than bisexual people (Diamond, 1998; Maguen et al., 2002; Herek et al., 2010; Calzo et al., 2011; Martos et al., 2015; Hoenig, 2016; Katz-Wise et al., 2017a). Siarly, another study found that sexual activy was earlier for gay men than bisexual men, wh no differenc among women; g out was earlier for gay/lbian women than bisexual women, wh no difference among men (Maguen et al., 2002).

Supplementary Table 3 shows the rults of meta-analys of tone ag by sexual orientatn (bisexual and gay/lbian) based on data om four studi; two of the studi are the top tier of methodologil rigor and two are the send tier (Herek et al., 2010; Pew Rearch Center, 2013a; Fredriksen-Goldsen et al., 2017; Katz-Wise et al., 2017a); however, none of the studi examed the relatnship tone. Given the soccultural prsure of heteronormativy, bisexual peopl’ attractns to multiple genrs, and their pacy to engage sexual behavrs and relatnships that may be viewed as heterosexual, there may be more nial, mimizatn, or uncertaty about their bisexual sexualy than for gay/lbian people. In addn, bee bisexualy as a legimate sexual orientatn has historilly been qutned, wh views that bisexualy is a transnal step between heterosexualy and homosexualy and that very few people are tly bisexual, people wh an emergg bisexual inty may feel more nfn and self-doubt about their inty than people wh monosexual orientatns (Brown, 2002; Roberts et al., 2015; Monro et al., 2017).

Although youths who nsistently intified as gay/lbian did not differ om other youths on time sce experiencg sexual velopmental ton, they reported current sexual orientatn and sexual behavrs that were more same-sex centered and they sred higher on aspects of the inty tegratn procs (e.

REVIEWSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIL ASPECTS OF GAY INTY VELOPMENT

G., more certa, fortable, and acceptg of their same-sex sexualy, more volved gay-related social activi, more posssg of posive attus toward homosexualy, and more fortable wh others knowg about their sexualy) than youths who transed to a gay/lbian inty and youths who nsistently intified as bisexual. Keywords: Comg-out procs, sexual inty, sexual orientatn, sexual behavr, ternalized homophobia, gay, lbian, bisexual, adolcents, longudal, genr differencThe velopment of a gay, lbian, or bisexual (GLB) sexual inty is a plex and often difficult procs.

DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF SEXUAL INTY DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME: IMPLITNS FOR THE PSYCHOLOGIL ADJTMENT OF LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL YOUTHS

Inty formatn nsists of beg aware of one’s unfoldg sexual orientatn, begng to qutn whether one may be GLB, and explorg that emergg GLB inty by beg volved gay-related social activi and/or sexual activi (Cass, 1979; Chapman & Brannock, 1987; Morris, 1997; Troin, 1989). This is evint by the dividual g to accept a GLB inty, rolvg ternalized homophobia by transformg negative attus to posive attus, feelg fortable wh the ia that others may know about the unfoldg inty, and disclosg that inty to others (Morris, 1997; Rosar et al., 2001).

GAY INTY DEVELOPMENT

Among 216 behavrally bisexual men (ag 18 – 30 years), Stok and lleagu (1997) found that over the urse of one year, 49% reported no chang sexual orientatn, 34% beme more homosexually oriented, and 17% more heterosexually oriented. Given ngence theory, we hypothize that youths wh a nsistent gay/lbian inty would have a sexual orientatn that is more same-sex centered and would be more likely to report same-sex behavrs but ls likely to report other-sex behavrs than youths who, for example, recently transed om a bisexual inty to a gay/lbian inty.

In an earlier report on our sample, we found that youths who self-intified as gay/lbian, as pared wh bisexual, were volved more gay-related social activi, endorsed more posive attus toward homosexualy, were more fortable wh other dividuals knowg about their same-sex sexualy, and disclosed their sexual inty to more dividuals (Rosar et al., 2001). We hypothize that nsistently intified gay/lbian youths have a current sexual orientatn that is more same-sex centered, report a higher prevalence of sexual behavr wh the same sex but a lower prevalence of sexual behavr wh the other sex, and evince higher levels of inty tegratn than youths who have changed sexual inti or nsistently intified as bisexual.

The equali are such that we hypothize that youths who have transed om a bisexual to a gay/lbian inty are more likely than nsistently bisexual youths to have a current sexual orientatn that is more same-sex centered, report a higher prevalence of sexual behavr wh the same sex but a lower prevalence of sexual behavr wh the other sex, and evince higher levels of inty tegratn.

AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?

Each ponent of the SERBAS-Y ed this report is discsed tail Inty A sgle em om the SERBAS-Y asssed sexual inty at every asssment perd by askg youths, “When you thk about sex, do you thk of yourself as lbian/gay, bisexual, or straight? Youths also were asked about the age when they first thought they “might be” gay/lbian, when they first thought they “might be” bisexual, when they first thought they “really were” gay/lbian, and when they first thought they “really were” bisexual. Attus Toward Homosexualy A 33-em sle adapted om the Nungser Homosexual Attus Inventory (Nungser, 1983) was modified for youths by simplifyg the language, makg more rmal, and generalizg the em ntent to clu both mal and femal.

Comfort wh Homosexualy A modified versn of the Nungser Homosexual Attus Inventory (see above for further scriptn; Nungser, 1983), was admistered at all three asssments g a 4-pot rponse sle rangg om “disagree strongly” (1) through “agree strongly” (4).