Investigates benefits of cross-sexual orientation friendships on adolescent girls (N=20). Results indicate that cross-sexual orientation friendships function similarly in comparison to other friendship development in positive ways. Discusses overall benefits of cross-sexual orientation friendships and benefits that are unique to both heterosexual…

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…

Prior research on observer perceptions of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients has concluded that there is a strong tendency to assume that homosexuals are patients of AIDS while heterosexuals are patients of anything but AIDS. This study sought to determine if there was a greater tendency to diagnose AIDS among female homosexuals…

Today, homosexuality has become a topic of discussion throughout the psychological community and society at large. However, there is great controversy about the etiology of homosexuality and more specifically, lesbianism. This paper describes a review of the literature to examine the hypothesis that a multitude of factors may influence the…

Examines the types of social support that lesbian and heterosexual women receive from their social networks and the link between support and psychological well-being. Results indicate that both groups reported receiving equivalent overall amounts of support from their social networks, and that coupled women reported greater well-being than single…

The intergenerational family therapy method of genogram construction may be a useful technique for increasing levels of differentiation in clients with a lesbian sexual orientation. Provides a description, rationale, and illustration of how genogram construction may be used by family counselors to treat lesbian clients. (JBJ)

Examines data on same-sex relations in girls' reform schools, noting the invisibility of gay and lesbian lives in most educational research. Discusses difficulties with terminology, institutional efforts to curb girls' relationships and sexual behavior, the girls' creation of an alternative family structure, love letters, and interracial…

Reviews research on lesbian health risks and behavior, noting methodological difficulties, and focusing on health risks (alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and sexually transmitted infections) and health care (early detection behavior and barriers to preventive care). Overall, there are behavioral, perceptual, and experiential differences…

Using ethnographic research methods, semistructured interviews were conducted with three women involved with a gay/lesbian/bisexual student organization. All three individuals were sophomores at an urban university in a large metropolitan area. The students discussed the fluid nature of the definitions of lesbian, gay, and bisexual, noting that…

Reviews literature in lesbian and women's identity development followed by a discussion of vocational issues of lesbians as related both to identity development and to literature on vocational psychology of women. Moves toward a vocational psychology of lesbians that incorporates scholarship in lesbian and women's development within framework of…

This document considers sexual preference as it specifically relates to women. Divided into two parts, the document presents a fact sheet about lesbianism and contains a workshop resource guide on sexual preference. The fact sheet, arranged in a question-answer format, focuses on the following concerns: (1) lesbianism as a woman's issue; (2) legal…

In-depth interviews with 10 working-class lesbians, aged 16-22, examined how they envisioned their lives, their experiences related to sexual orientation growing up and in school, meanings and consequences of being poor and working class, and additional difficulties for minority-group lesbians. Most interviewees had goals of partaking in the…

Investigates the relationship between sexual orientation and perceptions of self, ideal male, and ideal female using the Androgyny scale of the Bem Sex Role Inventory with 144 college students. Findings include the fact that homosexuals were less likely than heterosexuals to stereotype their perceptions. (FMW)