title: A test of the maternal stress theory of human male homosexuality.
abstract: Both the neurohormonal theory of sexual orientation and previous research on humans and animals suggest that male homosexuality may arise from prenatal stress during the brain's sexual differentiation. Stress-proneness and retrospective reports of stress during pregnancy were obtained from mothers of male and female heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals. Each mother also rated pregnancy stress for a heterosexual sibling of the subject. For males, neither between-family nor within-family analyses revealed a maternal stress effect for either sexual orientation or childhood gender nonconformity. However, mothers of effeminate children reported more stress-proneness than other mothers. Male homosexuality nevertheless was strongly familial, suggesting a reconsideration of genetic and familial environmental mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2710.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Willerman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parks
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D012801:Sibling Relations; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires