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Sexual Experimentation in Heterosexual, Bisexual, Lesbian/Gay, and Questioning Adolescents From Ages 11 to 15.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Davis, Jacqueline TM 

Abstract

To examine adolescent sexuality development, we analyzed data from a British cohort study (N = 5,070), which assessed the same 12-14 sexual activities at ages 11, 12, 13, and 15, and sexual orientation identity at age 15. The sexual activities ranged from low (e.g., cuddling), moderate (e.g., kissing), to high (e.g., sexual intercourse) intensity. We found that most adolescents having sexual activities of low-to-moderate intensity with same-sex individuals also had them with other-sex individuals, and adolescents having other-sex contacts of low intensity often reported them nonexclusively. Furthermore, other-sex and same-sex sexual activities did not reliably distinguish between sexual orientation identities. Sex differences in these phenomena were absent or small. These findings suggest that many adolescents have low-intensity nonexclusive sexual behaviors.

Description

Keywords

Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Age Distribution, Child, Female, Heterosexuality, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Sex Distribution, Sexual Behavior, Sexual and Gender Minorities

Journal Title

J Res Adolesc

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1050-8392
1532-7795

Volume Title

30

Publisher

Wiley

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
A Gates Cambridge Scholarship and an honorary Cambridge Australia Scholarship awarded to J. T. M. Davis. Research funding awarded to G. Li from the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge