Gender-related traits of heterosexual and homosexual men and women.
Two studies investigated the relation between sexual orientation and gender-related traits. Analyzing data from an Internet survey, Study 1 found that gay men and lesbians differed from same-sex heterosexuals most strongly on gender diagnosticity (GD) measures, which assess male- versus female-typicality of occupational preferences (effect sizes were 1.14 for men and 0.53 for women) and least strongly on instrumentality (I) and expressiveness (E). Study 2 found that GD measures showed large differences between 289 gay and 200 heterosexual men (d = 0.95) and between 296 lesbian and 435 heterosexual women (d = 1.32), whereas I and E showed much smaller differences. In Study 2 homosexual-heterosexual diagnosticity measures, computed from men's and women's occupational preferences, correlated very strongly with GD measures (r = 0.88 for men and 0.89 for women), indicating that occupational preference items that distinguished men from women also tended to distinguish heterosexual from homosexual individuals. LISREL 8 analyses showed that self-ascribed masculinity-femininity did not mediate the strong relation between sexual orientation and GD for men or for women.
Lippa
Richard A
RA
Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, California 92834, USA. rlippa@exchange.fullerton.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology