Lack of differences between males with or without perceived same sex attraction.
Adolescent males are often concerned that they may be homosexual because of a sense of sexual attraction to other males. This not uncommon concern is often expressed to pediatric endocrinologists who come into contact with these boys because of concerns with abnormal pubertal development. To explore the character and prevalence of these types of homosexual concerns we assessed the perceptions of a group of healthy adolescent males using a structured questionnaire. The aim of this study was to determine whether males concerned about homosexual tendencies manifest a unique self-perception profile or interact differently with others. A multi-item questionnaire regarding demographic, behavioral, psychological and sexual characteristics was administered to 52 18-24 year-old males. Overall, there were few differences between males admitting to an adolescent homosexual attraction to males and males without this attraction. Differences between these two groups included more exposure to some kinds of pornography (including male to male imagery), noticeable psychosexual responses to male pornography, internal questioning over homosexual tendencies, comparisons of genitalia and perceptions of body build. There were no differences in demographics, family structure, religious beliefs, socio-economic status, knowledge of puberty, inter-personal relationships or sources of information about sexuality.
Department of Pediatrics, Penn State College of Medicine, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA. plee@psu.edu
Peter A
PA
Lee
Christopher P
CP
Houk
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005783:Gender Identity; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012649:Self Concept; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*