What’s in a Name?: Sexual Identity Development Milestones Across Lesbian/Gay, Bisexual, and Emergent Sexual Identities

• In Event: 2-150 - Emerging Sexual Identity Labels: What can Youth Tell us and Where do we go from Here?

Integrative Statement

Sexual identity development milestones, including becoming aware of same-sex attraction, coming out to friends and family, and first same-sex relationships, mark the processes through which sexual minority people explore, acknowledge, and disclose their sexual identities. Prior research suggests that the timing and patterns of these milestones vary across sociodemographic factors and have important implications for health and well-being (Martos, Nezhad, & Meyer, 2015). Though research has examined sociodemographic differences in sexual identity milestones across race/ethnicity (Rosario, Scrimshaw, & Hunter, 2004), sex (Savin-Williams and Diamond, 2000), and sexual identity (Martos et al., 2015), these studies offer mixed findings and rely on community samples of sexual minority individuals, potentially introducing selection effects. Further, previous studies have not accounted for the proliferation of emergent sexual identities (e.g., queer, pansexual) in contemporary cohorts of sexual minority youth (Horner, 2007), and whether such identities indicate distinct developmental processes. To address these shortcomings, the present study utilized the first nationally representative sample of sexual minority US adults to test differences in the timing of sexual identity development milestones across lesbian/gay, bisexual, and emergent identities (e.g., queer, pansexual, anti-label). Consistent with prior research (Martos et al., 2015), we hypothesized that bisexual individuals’ sexual identity development milestones occur later than lesbian/gay participants. Given that individuals holding emergent identities demonstrate both similarities and differences in sexual attraction to LGB individuals (Morandini et al., 2016), we expected the milestones of those with emergent identities to occur earlier than bisexuals and later than lesbian/gay people.
Study participants were 563 sexual minority young adults aged 18-25 from the Generations study, the first nationally representative survey of the health and lives of sexual minority people in the US. Participants’ sexual identities were coded as lesbian/gay (n=210, 37%), bisexual (n=259, 46%), or another sexual minority identity such as queer or pansexual (n=94, 17%). Sexual identity milestones measured the age at which participants first: 1) were attracted to someone of the same sex; 2) realized they were a sexual minority; 3) had sex with a same-sex partner; 4) had a relationship with a same-sex partner; 5) came out to a family member; 6) came out to a straight friend; 7) were found out by a family member without telling them. Covariates were sex and race/ethnicity.
We ran ANCOVA analyses to examine sexual identity differences in the age of sexual identity development milestones. Results suggest significant sexual identity differences in the age at which participants report milestones. Lesbian/gay participants, for example, reported first same-sex attraction and coming out to friends and family earlier than bisexual participants. Conversely, participants holding emergent identities did not differ from lesbian/gay or bisexual participants on milestones, with the exception of first realizing their sexual minority status (see Table). Findings suggest that sexual identity development processes of young people with emergent identities do not appear to differ from those with lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities. Implications for the integration of emergent identities into research with contemporary sexual minority youth are discussed.

Authors

• Meg D. Bishop, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Jessica N. Fish, University of Maryland College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author