Changes in Sexual Lives and Their Consequences for Career Plans Among Sexual Minorities

• In Event: 178 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. Children, Youth, and the Future of Aging

Abstract

Past studies suggested that sexual minorities’ overrepresentation in certain occupations results from their unique career interests and their unique constraints in the labor market. However, these studies tended to treat sexual orientation as a static attribute and paid limited attention to how changes in sexual minorities’ sexual and romantic lives may motivate changes in their career plans over time. We seek to fill this gap by analyzing in-depth interviews with 23 sexual minority young adults, who were interviewed twice over a two year period. Like heterosexuals in this life stage, many sexual minority participants reported shifts in their career plans, and they attributed some of the shifts to several key events in their sexual and romantic lives. Further, their narratives revealed their efforts to frame challenges in sexual lives positively, justify career decisions that have been motivated by other factors, and use sexual orientation as a resource to sustain a sense of coherence. The results help increase understanding about how sexual minorities’ unique pattern of occupational attainment emerges over time as they experience, interpret, and respond to changes in their sexual and romantic lives during young adulthood.

Authors

• Koji Ueno, Florida State University

• Amanda Nix, Florida State University

• Lacey Ritter, Florida State University

• Teresa Roach, Florida State University

• Abraham E. Pena-Talamantes, Florida State University