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Childhood gender-typed behavior and adolescent sexual orientation: A longitudinal population-based study.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Li, Gu 
Kung, Karson TF 
Hines, Melissa 

Abstract

Lesbian and gay individuals have been reported to show more interest in other-sex, and/or less interest in same-sex, toys, playmates, and activities in childhood than heterosexual counterparts. Yet, most of the relevant evidence comes from retrospective studies or from prospective studies of clinically referred, extremely gender nonconforming children. In addition, findings are mixed regarding the relation between childhood gender-typed behavior and the later sexual orientation spectrum from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively lesbian/gay. The current study drew a sample (2,428 girls and 2,169 boys) from a population-based longitudinal study, and found that the levels of gender-typed behavior at ages 3.5 and 4.75 years, although less so at age 2.5 years, significantly and consistently predicted adolescents' sexual orientation at age 15 years, both when sexual orientation was conceptualized as 2 groups or as a spectrum. In addition, within-individual change in gender-typed behavior during the preschool years significantly related to adolescent sexual orientation, especially in boys. These results suggest that the factors contributing to the link between childhood gender-typed behavior and sexual orientation emerge during early development. Some of those factors are likely to be nonsocial, because nonheterosexual individuals appear to diverge from gender norms regardless of social encouragement to conform to gender roles. (PsycINFO Database Record

Description

Keywords

Adolescent, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, England, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Gender Identity, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Prospective Studies, Psychology, Adolescent, Sexuality, Time Factors

Journal Title

Dev Psychol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0012-1649
1939-0599

Volume Title

53

Publisher

American Psychological Association (APA)
Sponsorship
The UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust (Grant ref: 102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This specific study was supported by a Cambridge International Scholarship awarded to Gu Li and by research funding from the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge.