Religious faith has been instrumental in fostering positive mental health outcomes for historically disenfranchised populations, such as Black Americans. However, the religious institutional devaluing of same-sex behavior and identity fuels internalized homonegativity (i.e., negative thoughts regarding one's same-sex sexual behavior) for…

It is not my intent to critique individual contributions in this special issue but to assess scholarly progress since the last special issue devoted to sexual orientation in Developmental Psychology (Patterson, 1995). Because not all steps forward can be catalogued in this limited forum, I focus on several long-standing challenges faced by…

P. Hegarty (2009) offered several critiques of the articles by G. Rieger, J. A. W. Linsenmeier, L. Gygax, and J. M. Bailey (2008) and K. D. Drummond, S. J. Bradley, M. Peterson-Badali, and K. J. Zucker (2008) that were published in a "Developmental Psychology" special section entitled "Sexual Orientation Across the Lifespan," guest-edited by C. J.…

Debates persist over whether bisexuality is a temporary stage of denial or transition, a stable "3rd type" of sexual orientation, or a heightened capacity for sexual fluidity. The present study uses 5 waves of longitudinal data collected from 79 lesbian, bisexual, and "unlabeled" women to evaluate these models. Both the "3rd orientation" and…

Researchers have begun to explore and identify various gradations in sexual orientation identity, paying attention to alternative sexual identity categories and attempting to clarify potential subtypes of same-sex sexuality, particularly among women. This study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data to explore the behavioral experiences…

Homosexual adults tend to be more gender nonconforming than heterosexual adults in some of their behaviors, feelings, and interests. Retrospective studies have also shown large differences in childhood gender nonconformity, but these studies have been criticized for possible memory biases. The authors studied an indicator of childhood gender…

This study provided information on the natural histories of 25 girls with gender identity disorder (GID). Standardized assessment data in childhood (mean age, 8.88 years; range, 3-12 years) and at follow-up (mean age, 23.24 years; range, 15-36 years) were used to evaluate gender identity and sexual orientation. At the assessment in childhood, 60%…

Four studies were conducted on the development and validation of the Measure of Sexual Identity Exploration and Commitment (MoSIEC). Exploratory factor analysis of an initial item pool yielded a 22-item measure with 4 distinct factors assessing commitment, exploration, sexual orientation identity uncertainty, and synthesis/integration. Exploratory…

Many gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults report a period of childhood sexual questioning--an uneasy questioning of their heterosexuality brought on by same-sex attractions and motivating same-sex sexual exploration. This article evaluates hypotheses about the correlates, causes, and consequences of childhood sexual questioning. Participants were 182…

Interviewed 16- to 23-year-old non-heterosexual women regarding development of their sexual orientation. Found that a majority failed to report at least one of following: childhood sexual orientation indicators, stability in same-sex attractions, or awareness of same-sex attractions prior to conscious sexual questioning. Lesbians reported greater…

Examined whether parents' sexuality can influence the sexual orientation of their children. Subjects were 27 lesbian mothers with 39 children, and 27 heterosexual single mothers and their 39 children. Found that although children from lesbian families were more likely to explore same-sex relationships, the large majority of children who grew up in…

Reviews research that examines the role of sexual orientation on human development, and introduces the articles in this special issue. Argues that research on sexual orientation and human development has the potential to make important contributions to both the theory and practice of developmental psychology. (MDM)

Examined hormonal influences on activity and playmate preferences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) age 2.5 to 12 years and their relatives. Found that girls with CAH preferred boys' toys and activities, whereas boys with CAH did not differ significantly from controls. Activity and playmate preferences were not related. (MDM)

Reviews research examining the predictive aspects of childhood sex-typed behavior for sexual orientation. Prospective studies suggest that childhood cross-typed behavior is strongly predictive of adult homosexual orientation for men, whereas retrospective studies are useful in determining how many homosexual individuals displayed cross-sex…

Examined the sexual orientation of 82 adult sons of 55 gay men. Found that more than 90% of the sons whose sexual orientation could be rated were heterosexual. Gay and heterosexual sons did not differ on potentially relevant variables such as length of time they had lived with their fathers. (MDM)