Prevalence and stability of self-reported sexual orientation identity during young adulthood.
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 wasmore 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 categorywas themost 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, themost common shiftwas toward mostly heterosexual. Reflecting changes in identity, the proportion of heterosexuals decreased between the two waves.
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, USA. savin-williams@cornell.edu
Ritch C
RC
Savin-Williams
Kara
K
Joyner
Gerulf
G
Rieger
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012649:Self Concept; D019529:Sexuality / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*