Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation: A Review

“Because sexual orientation is a broader construct than samegender sexual activity (Sell, 1997), the use of sexual behavior alone to determine identity has led to some concern about misclassification bias in these studies (Bailey, 1999; Cochran et al., 2000; Cochran & Mays, 2000b), Indeed, Bailey…”

“The most common definitions of sexual orientation are focused around the concept of ‘‘orientation,’’ that is, an erotic inclination toward people of one or more genders, most often described as sexual or erotic attractions (Savin-Williams & Ream, 2007; Sell, 1997).”

“Sexual orientation is a complex concept with multiple measurable and intercorrelated dimensions, including sexual attraction; sexual behavior; sexual fantasies; emotional, social, and lifestyle preferences; and selfidentification.(16) Although self-rated sexual orientation and self-reported sexual behavior do not perf…”

“The social construction of sexual orien tation as categorical presumes that various aspects of sexual orientation, including identity, behavior and attraction, are congruent (Rothblum, 2000; Sell, 1997).”

“If sexualorientationexistsonacontinuumfrom exclusive other-sex to exclusive same-sex, then more options should be available to research participants (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Savin-Williams, 2005; Sell, 1997).”

“Second, despite the diversity of patterns of sexual attraction, desire, behavior, and the extent of self-identification as lesbian or gay within the gay community (Gonsiorek, Sell, & Weinrich, 1995; Laumann et al., 1994; Morris & Rothblum, 1999; Sell, 1997), when viewed from a population-based perspective, the great m…”

“…qualities, this model is viewed as incomplete both because it is a binary model that forces same-sex and other-sex sexual behavior to vary in relation to each other and because it is singularly based on sexual behavior, thus ignoring other facets of sexuality (Savin-Williams, 2008; Sell, 1997).”

“Future studies should include measures of attraction, behavior, and selfidentification.(68) If time limitations don’t allow this, a follow-up question should be asked to identify “false positives” among those categorized as a sexual minority.”

“Allowing participants to self-identify their sexual orientation excludes other potentially important aspects of sexual identity (for review, see Sell, 1997) and does not account for label change over time (Diamond, 2005).”

“A recurrent concern for this area of research has been that of devising adequate measures of sexual orientation (Gonsiorek et al. 1995; Working Groups, 1995; Chung & Katayama, 1996; Sell, 1997; Russell, 2003).”

“This widely used measure is regarded as having stronger validity that those that dichotomize sexual orientation (Sell, 1997).”

“(lesbian, genderqueer - trans∗) Sexuality researchers have long noted that sexual orientation and sexual orientation identity do not neatly map onto one another (Morgan, 2013; Sell, 1997; Worthington & Reynolds, 2009).”

“Sexual identity refers to labels, including ‘‘homosexual,’’ ‘‘heterosexual,’’ or ‘‘bisexual,’’ that individuals often give themselves (Sell, 1997).”

“interest, attraction, and genital arousal—to particular classes of sexual stimuli (see also Chivers, 2015; Sell, 1997).”

“…bisexual, lesbian, or gay (Chung & Katayama, 1996), various scholars have emphasized the importance of assessing sexual orientation on multiple dimensions as well as distinguishing between sexual preference, sexual orientation, and sexual identity (e.g., Phillips et al., 2003; Sell, 1997).”

“While there are many ways to measure sexual orientation (Sell, 1997), the Kinsey scale remains a valid and parsimonious instrument, particularly for online surveys in Western cultures (Drucker, 2012).”

“The earliest academic paper using this word seems to be Kenneth Smith’s (1971) ‘‘Homophobia: A Tentative Personality Profile.’’”

“Past research reveals that there is no clear consensus on how to assess self-reported sexual orientation (for reviews, see Chung & Katayama, 1996; Coleman, 1987; Sell, 1997).”

“Sexual interests, or preferences, are expressed in sexual fantasy and behaviour (Sell, 1997), and these dimensions of”

“When sexual orientation is operationalized in the scientific literature, it often varies across studies (Sell, 1997), with some defining it via self-report of chosen identity labels (e.g., LGB or “straight”), and others basing it on self-reported sexual behaviors and/or physical attraction (Marshal…”

“Whether this weakness is sufficient to cast doubt on the veracity of the science of sexual orientation remains unresolved (Korchmaros, Powell, & Stevens, 2013; Savin-Williams, 2005; Sell, 1997).”

“It is manifested by a variety of indicators, including physiological arousal, erotic desire, sexual attraction, sexual fantasy, infatuation, genital behavior, romantic relationship, and public and private sexual identity (Sell, 1997).”

“…homosexual; 2 = predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homo-sexual; 3 = equally heterosexual and homosexual; 4 = predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual; 5 = predominantly homosexual, incidentally heterosexual; 6 = exclusively homosexual) (Sell, 1997).”

“Given the complexity of sexual identity and identification (Fenton, Johnson, McManus, & Erens, 2001; Sell, 1997), this is a problematic practice.”

“To this end, we employed a diverse set of assessments reflecting explicit sexual orientation in order to more fully represent sexual orientation as reflecting both identity and attraction (Sell, 1997).”

“Although attempts to define and measure sexual orientation began in the 1860s, sexual orientation remains an elusive concept today (Epstein, McKinney, Fox, & Garcia, 2012; McCabe, Hughes, Bostwick, Morales, & Boyd, 2012; Moradi, Mohr, Worthington, & Fassinger, 2009; Morgan, 2013; Ross, Daneback, & Masson, 2012; Sell,…”

“Since the introduction of the 7-point Kinsey scale (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948), each of these indicators has been theoretically understood as existing along a continuum from exclusive heterosexuality to exclusive homosexuality with degrees of nonexclusivity in between (Sell, 1997).”

“…multivariable aspect has been supported by both theorists and methodologists (Chung & Katayama, 1996; Coleman, 1987; Klein, Sepekoff, & Wolf, 1985; Sell, 1996, 1997; Weinrich, Snyder, Pillard, & Grant, 1993), and the ‘‘dynamic’’ aspect, especially over time, has been documented during adolescence…”

“Furthermore, many researchers do not clearly define classification schemes, and when included, operational methods do not always correspond with the conceptual definition (Sell, 1997).”

“[29]) and empirical [2,30] distinctions between sexual RESEARCH REPORT doi:10.”

“Since the initiation of its formal study by Ulrichs in the 1860s, the concept of sexual orientation has expanded to currently represent a complex, multidimensional construct that reflects an individual’s sexual behavior, attraction and identity that respond to environmental context and may change across the life cours…”

“We distinguished among these three dimensions because maltreatment could, in theory, influence each domain differently (Sell, 1997).”

“Consistent with the earlier discussions as to whether sexual orientation is dimensional orcategoricalandthenatureofbisexuality, Sell(1997) pointedout the diagnosisoftheseconditionsisunclearandconfusing toresearchers.Inviewofthis lack of clarity, a variety of assessments was employed in an earlierstudy (Buhrich and McC…”

“Defining sexual orientation is further complicated by the fact that it has been used to describe different facets of sexuality, including romantic and sexual attractions, fantasies, and behaviors, as well as specific lifestyles and community affiliations (Klein, Sepekoff, &Wolf, 1986; Sell, 1997).”

“In addition, the measures of sexual orientation used in the study focused primarily on identity and did not include the dimensions of attraction and behavior emphasized in the definition of sexual orientation provided by Sell (1997).”

“’s (1948) measure, have not garnered popular use because of the difficulty of useful scoring and categorization of respondents (Masters & Johnson, 1979), whereas others, such as Klein, Sepekoff, & Wolf’s (1985) measure, have not garnered popular use because of the relative burden of such lengthy measures (Sell, 1997).”

“But as others (e.g., Sell, 1997 ; W einberg et al.,1994)have pointed out, self-identification may be influenced by a number of variables and is limited by its categorical nature.”

“Health-related research has used a wide array of measures to assess sexual identity (e.g., Friedman et al., 2004; Sell, 1997; Solarz, 1999).”

“However, for some individuals, sexual orientation may not be a fixed characteristic but remains in flux or perhaps changes with a change in sexual partners or sexual networks (Horwitz & Newcomb, 2002; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994; Sell, 1997; Weinberg, Williams, & Pryor, 1994).”

“Final methodological limitations concern the cross-sectional design of the study and the relatively weak operationalization of some of the variables (e.g., sexual orientation; cf. Sell, 1997 ).”

“Inclusion criteria: Sexual orientation can be defined by sexual identity, sexual behavior, and sexual attraction.(37) NHANES does not include data on sexual attraction.”

“Although this scale was designed to capture a range of sexual orientations, researchers using this measure typically group individuals into three sexual orientation categories: heterosexual, lesbian/gay, and bisexual (Sell, 1997; Sell & Perulio, 1996).”

“Sexual orientation included at least the following two dimensions: the psychological component (including aspects such as erotic attraction, sexual fantasies, affections, and identity) and the behavioral component (which could encompass all forms of sexual encounters) (Sell, 1997).”

“…individual (Bussey & Bandura, 1999), as reflected, for example, in the increasing complexity and socially contingent nature of classifications of human sexuality, from the scale of Kinsey and colleagues (1948) to those of Shively and DeCecco (1977) and Klein and colleagues (1985; see Sell, 1997).”

“Core Autogynephilia, Autogynephilic Interpersonal Fantasy, Fetishism, and Masochism scales were altered from their original author’s format to 6-point Likert scales from never to all the time with responses scored from 0 to 5. However, since conducting this research we have been made aware that the amount of time a pe…”

“Although it is important to understand the nuances in sexual identity labels, such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Queer, scholars who have theorized and reviewed research on sexual minorities have expressed concern with the lack of clarity and imprecise definitions that appear in much of this literature, sometimes fail…”

“Furthermore, participants completed a manipulation check for the apologizer’s gender, and reported demographic information and their sexual orientation (which we used to control for the effects of sexual orientation on gender role norms; Sell 1997).”

“The difficulties of obtaining accurate information about adult same-sex sexual identity are most often attributed to sampling difficul- ties (Sell, 1997; Sell & Becker, 2001).”

“Similarly, despite our intent to use best measures of sexual orientation, Sell ( 1997 ) was not without basis for his general conclusion that “none of these [sexual orientation measures existing in 1997] are completely satisfactory” (p.”

“…aspects of sexual orientation, the assumed linearity of the scale (rather than being multidimensional), as well as its polarity that considers heterosexual and – using Kinsey’s terminology – homosexual desires as tradeoffs of one another (e.g. Quinan, 2016; Sell, 1997, for in-depth discussions).”

“Sexual orientation can be defined as sexual attraction, emotions, fantasies, behavior, or self-labeling, or a combination of these (Klein, Sepekoff, & Wolf, 1985; Mock & Eibach, 2012; Sell, 1997).”

“Because we do not observe sexual orientation, we decided 28Sexual orientation can be measured for instance by the means of the Kinsey scale (see Sell, 1997, for a review), which is a number between 0 (exclusively heterosexual) and 6 (exclusively homosexual).”

“An alternative approach, considers a variety of activities, such as sex with women, with men, with transgender people, or a combination at different times or in different circumstances, as potentially normative expressions of sexual fluidity [16,17].”

“Sell (1997a) developed his own 12-item test in an attempt to improve upon the coding system Kinsey developed for his interviews.”

“These choices vary considerably across studies and research traditions (for a summary of past approaches, see Savin-Williams and Vrangalova 2013 and Sell 1997).”

“Among them are that data on LGBT persons of different race and ethnicity are insufficient, that few studies focus on transgender individuals, and that research studies are inconsistent in their definition and measures of sexual orientation and gender identity (Sell, 1997; Boehmer, 2002).”

“Estimating the percentages of these youths who are sexual minority is difficult (Diamond 2000; Rotheram-Borus, Koopman, and Ehrhardt 1991; Sell 1997).”

“Measures of sexual orientation have varied across studies since it is considered a multi-dimensional aspect of a person’s identity (Sell, 1997).”

“Sexual minority students, particularly bisexual students, who had positive relationships with their teachers had fewer troubles in school (Russell, Seif, & Truong, 2001).”

“…choice for practical reasons, rather than as a continuum, and our findings might substantially change if we operationalize sexual orientation differently (e.g., via measurement) via a Kinsey scale (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948) or via other scales measuring sexual orientation (e.g., Sell, 1997).”

“have asked respondents to check a single response option [5, 6].”

“Sexual orientation identities are theorized to exist along a continuum (Sell, 1997), yet little is known about the development of identities that exist outside the discrete categories of heterosexual, bisexual, or gay/lesbian (Sell, 1997; Thompson & Morgan, 2008; Vrangalova & Savin-Williams, 2012).”