Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence and Stability of Self-Reported Sexual Orientation Identity During Young Adulthood

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on date from Wave 3 and Wave 4 from National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (N = 12,287), known as Add Health, the majority of young adults identified their sexual orientation as 100% heterosexual. The second largest identity group, “mostly heterosexual,” was larger than all other nonheterosexual identities combined. Comparing distributions across waves, which were approximately 6 years apart, stability of sexual orientation identity was more common than change. Stability was greatest among men and those identifying as heterosexual. Individuals who identified as 100% homosexual reported nearly the same level of stability as 100% heterosexuals. The bisexual category was the most unstable, with one quarter maintaining that status at Wave 4. Bisexual men who changed their identity distributed themselves among all other categories; among bisexual women, the most common shift was toward mostly heterosexual. Reflecting changes in identity, the proportion of heterosexuals decreased between the two waves.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bogaert, A. F. (2010). Physical development and sexual orientation in men and women: An analysis of NATSAL-2000. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 110–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Busseri, M. A., Willoughby, T., Chalmers, H., & Bogaert, A. R. (2008). On the association between sexual attraction and adolescent risk behavior involvement: Examining mediation and moderation. Developmental Psychology, 44, 69–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chandra, A., Mosher, W. D., & Copen, C. (2011, March). Sexual behavior, sexual attraction, and sexual identity in the United States: Data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth. National Health Statistics Reports, Number 36. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Chantala, K, & Tabor, J. (2010). National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Strategies to perform a design-based analysis using the add-health data. Retrieved from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/data/guides/weight1.pdf. Accessed 19 Aug 2011.

  • Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual fluidity: Understanding women’s love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, L., Robb, B., & Burke, D. (2005). Sexual orientation in United States and Canadian college students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 569–581.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, K. M., Florey, F., Tabor, J., Bearman, P. S., Jones, J., & Udry, J. R. (2003). The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research Design. Chapel Hill, NC: Carolina Population Center. http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design and http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/design. Accessed 19 Aug 2011.

  • Hayes, J., Chakraborty, A. T., McManus, S., Bebbington, P., Brugha, T., Nicholson, S., & King, M. (2011). Prevalence of same-sex behavior and orientation in England: Results from a national survey. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-011-9856-8.

  • 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 

  • McCabe, S. E., Hughes, T. L., Bostwick, W., Morales, M., & Boyd, C. J. (2011). Measurement of sexual identity in surveys: Implications for substance abuse research. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-011-9768-7.

  • McConaghy, N., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., Stevens, C., Manicavasagar, V., Buhrich, N., & Vollmer-Conna, U. (2006). Fraternal birth order and ratio of heterosexual/homosexual feelings in women and men. Journal of Homosexuality, 51, 161–174.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mock, S. E., & Eibach, R. P. (2011). Stability and change in sexual orientation identity over a 10-year period in adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-011-9761-1.

  • Ott, M. Q., Corliss, H. L., Wypij, D., Rosario, M., & Austin, S. B. (2011). Stability and change in self-reported sexual orientation identity in young people: Application of mobility metrics. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 519–532.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., & Kristiansen, H. W. (2008). Homosexual experience, desire and identity among young adults. Journal of Homosexuality, 54, 68–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perrin, E. C. (2002). Sexual orientation in child and adolescent health care. New York: Kluwer/Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saewyc, E. M., Homma, Y., Skay, C. L., Bearinger, L. H., Resnick, M. D., & Reis, E. (2009). Protective factors in the lives of bisexual adolescents in North America. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 110–117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C. (2006). Who’s gay? Does it matter? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 40–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. C., & Ream, G. L. (2007). Prevalence and stability of sexual orientation components during adolescence and young adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 385–394.

    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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stokes, J. P., Damon, W., & McKirnan, D. J. (1997). Predictors of movement toward homosexuality: A longitudinal study of bisexual men. Journal of Sex Research, 34, 304–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R., & Hee-Choon, S. (1998). National longitudinal study of adolescent health grand sample weight. Chapel Hill, NC: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/data/guides/weights.pdf. Accessed 26 Dec 2011.

  • Udry, J. R., & Bearman, P. S. (1998). The national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Retrieved from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/. Accessed 3 Jan 2011.

  • Udry, J. R., & Chantala, K. (2005). Risk factors differ according to same-sex and opposite-sex interest. Journal of Biosocial Science, 37, 481–497.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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 

  • Vrangalova, Z., & Savin-Williams, R. C. (2012). Mostly heterosexual and mostly gay/lesbian: Evidence for new sexual orientation identities. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-012-9921-y.

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research used data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. For information regarding how to obtain the Add Health data files, visit http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth. No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. Note: Use of this acknowledgment requires no further permission from the persons named. This research was supported, in part, by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD050959-07); by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Formula Funds given to Cornell University for Project NYC-321421 “Rural Youth: Gender Behavior, Bullying, Friends, and Psychological Health”; and the American Institute of Bisexuality for Project No.: 63660/A001 “Sexual Identity and Attraction: Understanding Understudied Groups.” A version of this article was presented at the University of Lethbridge Workshop, The Puzzle of Sexual Orientation: What Is It and How Does It Work?, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, June 2010.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-4401, USA

    Ritch C. Savin-Williams & Gerulf Rieger

  2. Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Kara Joyner

Authors
  1. Ritch C. Savin-Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kara Joyner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gerulf Rieger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ritch C. Savin-Williams.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Savin-Williams, R.C., Joyner, K. & Rieger, G. Prevalence and Stability of Self-Reported Sexual Orientation Identity During Young Adulthood. Arch Sex Behav 41, 103–110 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9913-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9913-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation