Desire for Solitary Sexual Activity Predicts Discordance Between How Young Women Self-identify and Their Reported Attractions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Introduction: While most clinicians know it is important to tailor sexual healthcare for their sexual minority patients, it can be complicated to assess who identifies with a sexual minority label, as engaging in same-sex behavior or having same-sex attractions does not always lead to an identity as a sexual minority1. Prior work suggests that people who have same-sex attractions or behaviors but identify as heterosexual have different healthcare needs than people who identify as sexual minorities2. Given this, and recent data showing that 1 in 6 young Americans identify with non-heterosexual orientation labels3, it is important to understand what drives discrepancies between young people's attractions and sexual identity label. Objective Objective: To determine characteristics that predict discordance between young women's sexual orientation label and reported sexual attractions. Methods Methods: 440 young, Midwestern women (age M = 20.6, SD = 1.53) completed a survey battery that assessed their sexual orientation – using both orientation labels and numeric attraction scales – as well as their sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index), sexual desire (Sexual Desire Inventory), sexual sensation seeking (Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale), sexual excitation and inhibition (Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Inventory), and their mental health (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7). The numeric attraction scale scored participant's attractions to men, women, and non-binary people from 0 – 100. To assess concordance, participant's chosen sexual orientation labels were compared to their numeric attraction scores. Results Results: Desire for solitary sexual experiences increased the likelihood of participants indicating identity labels that did not match their reported patterns of attraction (effect size = - .044, z = -2.69, p = .007); these results remained significant when controlling the influence of other sexuality measures (sexual function, sexual sensation seeking, sexual excitation and inhibition). Further, neither depression scores nor anxiety scores were related to the likelihood of identity/attraction concordance. Conclusions Conclusions: Desire for solitary sex seems to uniquely predict dissonance between one's stated sexual orientation label and experiencing sexual attraction patterns that may be better encapsulated by another label. A sizeable portion of our sample were in relationships with men, which may be a more salient consideration than attraction patterns when choosing an orientation label. If replicated, these findings suggest that assessing sexual desire patterns may help identify patients whose identity/attraction discordance lead to unique sexual health needs. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Good Clean Love