Age of identity realization among asexual and non-asexual LGB youth and associations with wellbeing

• In Event: Sexual minority identity development and mental health: New methodological, contextual, and population insights

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research has pointed to the realization of same-gender attraction as the first milestone in sexual identity development among LGB youth (Martos et al., 2015). However, identity development among asexual youth is not well understood—asexual youth have been neglected in research due in part to their relatively small population. Asexual youth also have been excluded from research based on the assumption that they are too young to identify as asexual, contrary to narrative accounts among asexual adults indicating they began “feeling different” during adolescence but lacked the language to describe their identity (Carrigan, 2011). It is possible, however, that asexual youth may realize that they are not straight later in adolescence compared to their LGB peers. A later age of realization for asexual youth may contribute to delayed identity development overall, which may be a factor in explaining why asexual youth appear to be at higher risk for negative wellbeing outcomes than LGB youth (Borgogna et al., 2018). The current study investigated whether asexual youth reported realizing they were not straight later in their life as compared with their LGB peers. Additionally, asexuality and age of realization were tested as possible predictors of self-acceptance and other wellbeing outcomes.

Methods: Participants were 17,112 sexual and/or gender minority adolescents who were between the ages of 13 and 17 (Mage = 15.57, SD = 1.27) and completed the LGBTQ National Teen Survey, collected in 2017. Of this sample, 773 participants selected “asexual” or wrote-in asexual as their sexual identity. Participants reported the age when they realized they were not straight and completed a queer self-acceptance scale (Shidlo, 1994), a depression scale (LeBlanc et al., 2002), and a self-image scale (Rosenberg, 1989). Independent samples t-tests compared asexual and LGB participants on age of realization. Hierarchical regressions were carried out to investigate whether asexuality and age of realization, along with their interaction, were associated with self-acceptance, depression, and self-esteem.

Results: Asexual youth reported realizing they were not straight significantly later than LGB youth, as noted in Table 1. Additionally, asexual identity, age of realization, and the interaction between the two were significantly associated with self-acceptance, depression, and self-esteem. The results of the hierarchical regressions are reported in Table 2. Later age of realization was more strongly associated with depression and lower self-esteem in asexual youth than non-asexual youth. A significant interaction was found, such that later age of realization was associated with better self-acceptance among asexual youth, but not non-asexual youth.

Discussion: This study leveraged a very large sample of asexual youth and indicated that asexual youth differed significantly from LGB youth on one important step in identity development: age of realization. Both asexual identity and age of realization were associated with wellbeing indicators including self-acceptance, depression, and self-esteem. The associations between age of realization and wellbeing differed between asexual and LGB youth. The study provides evidence that age of realization may function differently in asexual identity development; further research should seek to address asexual identity development starting with early stages during adolescence.

Authors

• Katelyn Jane Pitcher, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Rhiannon L. Smith, University of Connecticut

• Ryan J Watson, University of Connecticut