Skip to main content
Log in

Prevalence and Stability of Sexual Orientation Components During Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Analyses of three waves (6 years) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health data explored the prevalence and stability of sexual orientation and whether these two parameters varied by biologic sex, sexual orientation component (romantic attraction, sexual behavior, sexual identity), and degree of component. Prevalence rates for nonheterosexuality varied between 1 and 15% and depended on biologic sex (higher among females), sexual orientation component (highest for romantic attraction), degree of component (highest if “mostly heterosexual” was included with identity), and the interaction of these (highest for nonheterosexual identity among females). Although kappa statistics testing for temporal stability across waves were significant, they failed to reach acceptable levels of agreement and could be largely attributable to the stability of opposite-sex rather than same-sex attraction and behavior. Migration over time among sexual orientation components was in both directions, from opposite-sex attraction and behavior to same-sex attraction and behavior and vice versa. To assess sexual orientation, investigators should measure multiple components over time or abandon the general notion of sexual orientation and measure only those components relevant for the research question.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Black, D., Gates, G., Sanders, S., & Taylor, L. (2000). Demographics of the gay and lesbian population in the United States: Evidence from available systematic data sources. Demography, 37, 139–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, P. R., Egan, S. K., & Perry, D. G. (2004). Children who question their heterosexuality. Developmental Psychology, 40, 43–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D’Augelli, A. R., Hershberger, S. L., & Pilkington, N. W. (2001). Suicidality patterns and sexual orientation-related factors among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31, 250–264.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L. M. (2003a). New paradigms for research on heterosexual and sexual-minority development. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32, 490–498.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L. M. (2003b). Was it a phase? Young women’s relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5-year period. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 352– 364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, M. (1993). Homosexuality and bisexuality in different populations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22, 291– 310.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, N., Paul, C., & Herbison, P. (2003). Same-sex attraction in a birth cohort: Prevalence and persistence in early adulthood. Social Science & Medicine, 56, 1607–1615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunne, M. P., Bailey, J. M., Kirk, K. M., & Martin, N. G. (2000). The subtlety of sex-atypicality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 29, 549–565.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, L. (1996). The role of perinatal factors in determining sexual orientation. In R. C. Savin-Williams & K. M. Cohen (Eds.), The lives of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals: Children to adults(pp. 35–70). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eskin, M., Kaynak-Demir, H., & Demir, S. (2005). Same-sex sexual orientation, childhood sexual abuse, and suicidal behavior in university students in Turkey. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 185–195.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fergusson, D. M., Horwood, L. J., Ridder, E. M., & Beautrais, A. L. (2005). Sexual orientation and mental health in a birth cohort of young adults. Psychological Medicine, 35, 971–981.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. S., Silvestre, A. J., Gold, M. A., Savin-Williams, R. C., Markovic, N., Huggins, J., et al. (2004). Adolescents define sexual orientation and suggest ways to measure it. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 303–317.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kinnish, K. K., Strassberg, D. S., & Turner, C. W. (2005). Sex differences in the flexibility of sexual orientation: A multidimensional retrospective assessment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 173–183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., & Martin, C. E. (1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality: Sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeVay, S., & Valente, S. M. (2006). Human sexuality(2nd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lippa, R. A. (2000). Gender-related traits in gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual men and women: The virtual identity of homosexual-heterosexual diagnosticity and gender diagnosticity. Journal of Personality, 68, 899–926.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McConaghy, N. (1999). Unresolved issues in scientific sexology. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28, 285–318.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mosher, W. D., Chandra, A., & Jones, J. (2005). Sexual behavior and selected health measures: Men and women 15–44 years of age, United States, 2002. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, No. 362. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

  • Mustanski, B. S., Chivers, M. L., & Bailey, J. M. (2002). A critical review of recent biological research on human sexual orientation. Annual Review of Sex Research, 13, 89–140.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez Rust, P. C. R. (2002). Bisexuality: The state of the union. Annual Review of Sex Research, 13, 180–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, S. T., & Joyner, K. (2001). Adolescent sexual orientation and suicide risk: Evidence from a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1276–1281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandfort, T. G. M. (1997). Sampling male homosexuality. In J. Bancroft (Ed.), Researching sexual behavior: Methodological issues(pp. 261–275). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C. (1990). Gay and lesbian youth: Expressions of identity. Washington, DC: Hemisphere.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C. (1998). “… and then I became gay.” Young men’s stories. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C. (2001). A critique of research on sexual-minority youth. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 15–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C. (2005). The new gay teenager. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sell, R. L., Wells, J. A., & Wypij, D. (1995). The prevalence of homosexual behavior and attraction in the United States, the United Kingdom and France: Results of national population-based samples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 24, 235–248.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. M. A., Rissel, C. E., Richters, J., Grulich, A. E., & de Visser, R. O. (2003). Sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience among a representative sample of adults. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27, 138–145.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Statacorp. (2001). Stata statistical software: Release 7.0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Udry, J. R., & Bearman, P. S. (1998). The national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Retrieved April 30, 2003, from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/.

  • Van Griensven, F., Kilmarx, P. H., Jeeyapant, S., Manopaiboon, C., Korattana, S., Jenkins, R. A., et al. (2004). The prevalence of bisexual and homosexual orientation and related health risks among adolescents in Northern Thailand. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33, 137–147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, M. S., Williams, C. J., & Pryor, D. W. (1994). Dual attraction: Understanding bisexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellings, K., Field, J., Johnson, A. M., & Wadsworth, J. (1994). Sexual behaviour in Britain: The national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wichstrøm, L., & Hegna, K. (2003). Sexual orientation and suicide attempt: A longitudinal study of the general Norwegian adolescent population. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 144–151.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. R. R. Rindfuss and B. Entwisle assisted in the original design. To obtain data files, please contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516-2524 (www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth/contract.html).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ritch C. Savin-Williams.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Savin-Williams, R.C., Ream, G.L. Prevalence and Stability of Sexual Orientation Components During Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Arch Sex Behav 36, 385–394 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9088-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9088-5

Keywords

Navigation