Childhood and adolescent sexual behaviors predict adult sexual orientations

Keith W Beard,Thomas D Linz,Karen V Harper-Dorton,Sam Swindell,Karla Beth Moore,Karen Griffee,Megan Lawhon,Sandra S Stroebel,Kerri Steele,Natalie M Campbell,Stephen L O’Keefe,Debra H Young,Peter Walla

doi:10.1080/23311908.2015.1067568

Abstract

AbstractAnonymous retrospective data were provided by 3,443 adult participants via computer-assisted self-interview. This was the first study focused on determinants of adult sexual orientation to adjust for the effects of same-sex sibling incest. Five measures of adult sexual orientations (ASOs) provided evidence consistent with the theory that ASOs result from early sex-specific romantic attachment, conditioning caused by early sexual experiences with partners, and other experiences, such as early masturbation using human images, acting synergistically with critical period learning, and sexual imprinting. Early same-sex crushes were the most powerful predictor of ASOs, and they also increased the likelihood of engaging in early same-sex partnered and masturbation behaviors. Incestuous experiences with same-sex siblings affected the ASOs of the incest participants. And, lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants tended to have an earlier onset of puberty than heterosexual controls within sexes. However, sta...

Highlights

Based on US probability sample, Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels (1994, p. 311) reported that 4.4% of women and 6.2% of men experienced some same-sex attractions, and 4.1% of women and 4.9% of men reported at least one same-sex partner after age 18
The 28 who had participated in incest with a sister reported having their first early sexual experience of any kind with a female starting at a mean age that was five years earlier than that of those who did not participate in sex with a sister (p < .001)
Frequencies of scores on the PM-SOS in female participants In Table 16, we have presented the observed frequencies of scores on the PM-SOS in those women self-identifying as heterosexual, those self-identifying as lesbian or bisexual, those who did not select a self-identified sexual orientation, and in all 2,181 female participants

Summary

Introduction

Based on US probability sample, Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels (1994, p. 311) reported that 4.4% of women and 6.2% of men experienced some same-sex attractions, and 4.1% of women and 4.9% of men reported at least one same-sex partner after age 18. The prevalence of same-sex orientations in a New Zealand birth cohort was the same at age 38 as at age 21 (3.7%) in women, but the prevalence of same-sex orientations was significantly higher at age 38 (6.5%) than at age 21 (4.2%) in men (Dickson, van Roode, Cameron, & Paul, 2013). These kinds of empirical data would be far more valuable if they were grounded in a theoretical approach that provided a basis for understanding the data’s significance, formulating new hypotheses, and testing those new hypotheses against newly gathered data (Neter, Kutner, Nachtsheim, & Wasserman, 1989). Alternative ways to describe this continuum-like range of preferences and orientations have included (1) using at least five separate categories (Vrangalova & Savin-Williams, 2010, 2012) or (2) using two orthogonal (opposite-sex and same-sex) variables that both exist, to some extent, within a single individual (Beard et al, 2013; Bickham et al, 2007; O’Keefe et al, 2014; Robinett, 2012; Storms, 1980; Stroebel et al, 2013; Whalen, Geary, & Johnson, 1990)

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