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3-201 - The Development of Sexual Orientation: Recent Advances in Theory and Methodology

Sat, March 21, 3:50 to 5:20pm, Penn CC, Floor: 100 Level, Room 106AB

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The world increasingly celebrates the diversity of human sexuality, but the developmental predictors of this diversity remain largely unknown. In four papers, the current symposium presents recent advances in theory and methodology related to sexual orientation development.

Paper 1 revisits the well-established fraternal birth order effect, assumed to reflect a maternal immune influence on male sexual orientation development. Using archival data, the authors replicate this effect and identify a second type of potential maternal immune response on male sexual orientation, reflected in an association between sexual orientation and birth weight. Paper 2 investigates possible epigenetic effects on sexual orientation development. The authors compare genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in monozygotic male twin pairs discordant for sexual orientation, and find numerous epigenetic changes that relate to variability in human sexual orientation. Paper 3 examines gender differences in sexual orientation, and finds convergent support from fMRI and genital arousal data that with notable exceptions to gender-typical patterns in bisexual men and homosexual women, men have a stronger motivational preference for preferred versus non-preferred sexual stimuli than women. Paper 4 investigates whether this motivational gender difference is evident among 13-year-old teenagers. Longitudinal interviews suggest that both boys and girls at this age do not experience oriented romantic attractions, but boys are more likely than girls to later develop a gender-specific sexual orientation. These four papers use varied methods and identify novel mechanisms that relate to sexual orientation development, including prenatal and epigenetic factors, as well as factors occurring at or after puberty.

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