Same-sex attraction in a birth cohort: prevalence and persistence in early adulthood
Abstract
There is a continuing debate about the importance of social versus biological factors in the expression of same-sex attraction. Investigation of prevalence, continuities, and changes over time among young adults growing up in a country with a relatively accepting climate to homosexuality is likely to illuminate this debate. Analyses were therefore undertaken of self-reported same-sex attraction at age 21 and 26, in a cohort of about 1000 people born in 1972/3 in one New Zealand city. Participants were also asked about same-sex behaviour and attitudes to same-sex relationships. By age 26, 10.7% of men and 24.5% of women reported being attracted to their own sex at some time. This dropped to 5.6% of men and 16.4% of women who reported some current same-sex attraction. Current attraction predominantly to their own sex or equally to both sexes (major attraction) was reported by 1.6% of men and 2.1% of women. Occasional same-sex attraction, but not major attraction, was more common among the most educated. Between age 21 and 26, slightly more men moved away from an exclusive heterosexual attraction (1.9% of all men) than moved towards it (1.0%), while for women, many more moved away (9.5%) than towards (1.3%) exclusive heterosexual attraction. These findings show that much same-sex attraction is not exclusive and is unstable in early adulthood, especially among women. The proportion of women reporting some same-sex attraction in New Zealand is high compared both to men, and to women in the UK and US. These observations, along with the variation with education, are consistent with a large role for the social environment in the acknowledgement of same-sex attraction. The smaller group with major same-sex attraction, which changed less over time, and did not differ by education, is consistent with a basic biological dimension to sexual attraction. Overall these findings argue against any single explanation for homosexual attraction.
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Behavior and attraction show more change over time than identity.
“Behavior and attraction, however, show more change over time than identity (Dickson et al., 2003(Dickson et al., , 2013;;Spittlehouse et al., 2019).”
From Fixed or Fluid? Sexual Identity Fluidity in a Large National Panel Study of New Zealand Adults (2024) · cites this paper as Dickson et al., 2003
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References 24 · Cited by 124
- Authors
- Dickson, N., Paul, C., & Herbison, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Otago (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Dickson, Nigel
- ORCID
- Herbison, Peter
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-04
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1607-1615
- ISSN
- 0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2042760446
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 5.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Keywords
- same-sex attraction, sexual orientation, early adulthood, prevalence, gender differences, educational attainment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attitude, Bisexuality, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, New Zealand, Psychosexual Development, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cohort Studies, Prevalence, Homosexuality, Male, Homosexuality, Female
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