Is the distant relationship of fathers and homosexual sons related to the sons' erotic preference for male partners, or to the sons' atypical gender identity, or to both?

Abstract

Study 1 compared the retrospectively reported father-son relationships of four groups of adult males: (a) Gynephiles (males who erotically prefer physically mature females), (b) androphiles (who prefer physically mature males), (c) a combined group of heterosexual pedophiles and pedohebephiles (the latter being attracted to pubescent as well as prepubescent females), and (d) a combined group of homosexual pedophiles and pedohebephiles (the latter attracted to pubescent as well as prepubescent males). The gynephiles were paid volunteers; the latter three groups were patients. The androphiles, the only group among those compared known to exhibit a measurably greater degree of cross gender identity in childhood, were also the only group to report significantly poorer father-son relations. The homosexual pedo/pedohebephiles, who also prefer male partners but who exhibit typical male gender identity in childhood, did not differ in father-son relations from the gynephiles or the heterosexual pedo/pedohebephiles. Study 2 showed that, within a sample of nonpatient volunteer androphiles, those individuals who reported the greatest degree of cross gender behavior in childhood also tended to report the worst relationships with their fathers. This correlation was replicated within a sample of androphilic patients in Study 3. The consistent pattern of results obtained from these three studies suggests that the emotionally distant relationships of fathers and androphilic sons relate to the sons' atypical childhood gender identity (or observable gender role behavior) rather than to the sons' erotic preference for male partners per se.