Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation: A Review

“…study, in large part corroborate previous studies concerning discrimination, violence, and identity development (Fife and Wright, 2000; Finch et al. 2000; Kessler et al. 1999; Mays and Cochran 2001; Sell 1997; Cross 1995; Helms 1993; Schmidt and Nilsson 2006; Cass 1979; McCarn and Fassinger 1996).”

“Decades of scholarly scrutiny and debate have shown that a clear, comprehensive, and widely agreed upon conceptualization is not easily come by (e.g., Bailey, 2009; Dembroff, 2016; Klein et al., 1985; Savin-Williams, 2016; Sell, 1997; Storms, 1980; van Anders, 2015).”

“This single item assesses preference for ideal sexual orientation, as opposed to assessing current sexual orientation (see Coleman, 1987; Sell, 1997), and was a clear and concise measure of the extent to which respondents preferred a lesbian or gay sexual orientation, with higher scores reflecting greater levels of su…”

“However, dissonance between sexual identity, in which case same-sex attraction is a key question to pose (Sell, 1997), and same-sex behavior occurs particularly in (young) adolescents (Kann et al., 2016), whereas the mean age in our minority patients was 34.9 years of age.”

“Sexual orientation has historically been inconsistently and insufficiently defined in the literature (e.g., Sell, 1997).”

“Sexual Orientation Based on the Kinsey Scale [59], we have chosen to measure sexual orientation on a continuum rather than on a heterosexual-bisexual-homosexual categorization.”

“Sexual orientation is complex and reflects intertwined and measureable aspects of self-identification, sexual activity and sexual attraction (Sells 1997).”

“Health research studies on sexual minority men have used varying measures of sexual orientation (Sell, 1997), and this diversity of measures presents a challenge to understanding and interpreting research outcomes.”

“Also, categorizing sexual identity as a simple categorical scale may be unsatisfactory due to the lack of reliability and validity studies, yet it is the approach most endorsed for use in future research (Saewyc et al., 2004; Sell, 1997).”

“Historically, sexual orientation has been considered a case of gender inversion (Pillard 1991; see also Sell 1997)öthe notion that gay and lesbian individuals are men and women existing in female and male bodies, respectively.”

“In fact, many researchers have failed to provide definitions, and sometimes the conceptual and operational definitions have not matched (Sell, 1997).”

“The questions were developed as a version of the Kinsey Scale of Sexual Orientation (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Sell, 1997) and read as follows: (a) "When you think about the persons you have had sexual fantasies about, which gender have they had?"; (b) "When you think about the persons you have been sexually at…”

“The general issues surrounding the measurement of sexual orientation have been discussed and dealt with insightfully and originally elsewhere (Sell, 1997; Sell & Becker, 2001).”

“Hypothesis 1: Attraction ratings can be fully predicted by sexual orientation (defined as oriented to “biological sex” or sex assigned at birth) Virtually, all researchers to date define sexual orientation and attraction as oriented to biological sex (e.g., Bailey et al., 2016; Rosario and Schrimshaw, 2014; Sell, 1997…”

“These options reflect a measure of one dimension of sexual orientation (i.e., identity; Sell, 1997) and culturally relevant groups in the Mexican context (Laguarda, 2007).”

“Sell, R. L. (1997). Defining and measuring sexual orientation: A review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 26, 643–658. Sher, K. J. (1987). Stress response dampening. In H. T. Blane and K. Leonard (Eds.), Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism (pp. 227–271). New York: Guilford. Sher, K. J., & Grekin, E. R. (2007…”

“2 There is wide variation in how the term “sexual orientation” has been conceptualized and measured in research [50, 51].”

“Sexual orientation was reported according to Kinsey scale [23], as “with which of the following phrases do you feel most identi ed?” The answers possible were ”I feel only attracted to people with my same sex”, “normally I feel attracted to people with my same sex, but sometimes I feel attracted to people of a differe…”

“For example, this isnecessary toconduct research intosexualorientation causes andconsequences (Mustanski, Chivers, & Bailey, 2002; Sell, 1997) and the assessment of unhealthy and inappropriate sexual desires in clinical and forensic settings (Gannon, Ward, & Polaschek, 2004; Laws & O’Donohue, 2008).”

“In his review of the literature on sexual orientation definition and measurement, Sell ( 1997 ) found that most definitions contain psychological and behavioral elements.”

“Despite this relevance, various recommendations exist regarding how to assess sexual orientation in a reliable and valid manner (Chivers, Seto, Lalumière, Laan, & Grimbos, 2010; Korchmaros, Powell, & Stevens, 2013; Sell, 1997).”

“It challenges people to see identities, behaviors, and attractions as not always completely congruent with each other (Sell, 1997) and allows for fl uidity and self-determination in who is permitted to use such terms, which is personal and may change across time.”

“This is also true of other non-Internet-related studies focusing on sexual orientation as well, where bisexuals are often not considered as a distinct category (Sell, 1997).”

“It subsumes sexual orientation, which can be thought of more simply as a type of compass, pointing toward the gender(s) to which people are ‘oriented’ in their sexual attractions, identity, and/or behaviors (Savin-Williams, 2011; Sell, 1996, 1997; Shively & De Cecco, 1977).”

“Relative to women who identify as heterosexual, experience only opposite-sex attractions, and only have sex with men, research has reliably documented more frequent and intense alcohol consumption [1-3], as well as a greater likelihood of negative alcohol-related consequences and alcohol dependence [2-4], among sexual…”

“The politics of health research, however, is such that undertaking such a census is unlikely anytime soon, a prognosis underscored by the long, difficult process some researchers have been engaged in to have sexual orientation questions included on large national health surveys ( Sell, 1997 ).”

“In addition to demographic characteristics, various aspects related to gender and sexuality were assessed in line with recommended practice [27-29].”

“ENDNOTES 1Sexual identity is a complex construct that reflects how an individual perceives themselves on four dimensions: sex assigned at birth, gender identity, sexual orientation and, gender role (Shively & De Cecco, 1977; Sell, 1997).”

“What is the proper definition and measure of homosexuality (Sell, 1997)?”

“lated dimensional distributions with these attributes (see Ruscio & Kaczetow, 2009). Comparison curve fit indices (CCFI) are also calculated to assess the relative fit of the dimensional and taxonic models; a score of 0 indicates the strongest support for the dimensional model, a score of 1 provides the strongest Arch…”

“A common methodological hurdle in LGB research is the measurement of sexual identity (Sell, 1997).”

“Scientists are beginning to treat sexual orientation as a demographic variable similar to religion or ethnicity (Sell, 1997).”

“…by the following: a disinclination to self-identify on the part of those who call themselves gay, bisexual, or lesbian; the effects of homophobia, biphobia; and lack of uniform definitions and labels that encompass all the aspects of sexual orientation (De Cecco & Parker, 1995; Sell, 1997).”

“An additional item assessed sexual preferences or feelings on the Kinsey Heterosexual-Homosexual scale (Sell, 1997).”

“First, while there is far from complete agreement about how any sexual orientation should be operationally defined (Chung & Katayama, 1996; Sell, 1997), there appears to be the least agreement regarding bisexuality (Cerny & Janssen, 2011; Riegeretal.,2005;Rosenthaletal.,2011,2012;Rullo,2010).”

“In his careful review, Sell (1997) credited Shively and De Cecco as the first to publish this idea but noted dryly that “studies using or examining Shively and De Cecco’s (1977) proposed measure of sexual orientation could not be found in the published literature” (Sell, 1997, p. 655).”

“…méthodologiques de la plupart des enquêtes sur le milieu de travail, notamment les modes de recrutement non aléatoires (Meezan et Martin, 2009 ; Sell, 1997), et de mener des comparaisons en fonction de ces deux variables qui permettraient d’approfondir les analyses des fac- Tableau…”

“Of note, a standard for gathering information on sexual identity does not currently exist for quantitative literature and presents concerns for exclusively quantitative analysis (Hill et al. 2017; Sell 1997).”

“Sell’s approach argued that evaluating SO on separate scales enables individuals to recognize BSSO but not asexuality 114 .”

“While the measurement we chose to assess sexual orientation is a parsimonious and valid measure (Drucker, 2012), there are numerous other ways to classify and investigate sexual orientation (Sell, 1997) that should be explored.”

“While sexuality is considered to be a multidimensional concept (Sell 1997), there is considerable disagreement on its different components (Chung and Katayama 1996, Gonsiorek et al.”

“…makes the following recommendation concerning individual questions from Vermont and Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Surveys to assess same-sex sexual behaviors: During the past 12 months, have you had sex with only males, only females, or both males and females (Sell, 1997)?”

“Answers to these two questions were averaged (Cronbach’s α = .96) to obtain a measure of sexual orientation for those participants who provided an answer to both questions (n = 855; e.g., Bogaert, 2006; Sell, 1997).”

“(2012) also found, among other things, that self-labeled females had, on average, a larger SOR than self-labeled males (cf. Baumeister, 2000; Chivers et al., 2010; Diamond, 2008a, 2008b; Lippa, 2012; Mock & Eibach, 2012; Peplau, 2001; Peplau & Garnets, 2000; Ross et al., 2012; Russell & Seif, 2001; Sell, 1997; Vrangal…”

“A variety of indicators reflect sexual orientation, such as erotic desire, sexual attraction and fantasy, genital behavior, physiological arousal, public and private sexual identity and romantic relationship (Sell, 1997).”

“…researchers often use scores on the Kinsey Scale to place individuals in three main identity groups (i.e. heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian/gay; Sell, 1997), other identities (i.e. pansexual, queer, fluid) cannot be easily represented on this continuum (Diamond, 2008; Galupo, Davis,…”

“Still, sexual orientation researchers could benefit from a metric that can account for variability in sexuality that is missed by existing measures (Galupo, Lomash, & Mitchell, 2017; Galupo, Mitchell, & Davis, 2018; Galupo & Bennett, 2019; Sell, 1997; Weinrich, 2014a).”

“Sell, R.L. (1997). Defining and measuring sexual orientation: A review.”

“Of these, the two most often referred to are the Kinsey Scale and the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (Sell, 1997).”

“Such behaviors are one important component of what is called “sexual orientation” (Bailey & Marlene, 2009; Langstrom et al., 2010; Sell, 1996, 1997).”

“Such variables are seldom taken into account when sexual identity categories are used as indicators of sexual orientation and attraction/intimacy (Gonsiorek, Sell, & Weinrich, 1995). The term “sexual identity” is itself ambiguous because researchers have at times used attraction and intimacy to assign individuals to c…”

“The refusal “to name a subject” (Seidman 1993:133) that characterizes these approaches has generated a lively stream of 4 Sell (1997) offers a caveat: “While not many other terms have been proposed to describe heterosexuality or bisexuality, a plethora of terms have been used by researchers to…”

“Most self-report measures of sexual orientation present categorical or bipolar response options (Sell 1997), making it difficult to detect continuous and multidimensional features of sexual orientation.”

“Sexual orientation can be measured in many different ways (Sell, 1997).”

“MEASUREMENT Sexual identity was assessed using the Kinsey Scale, a 7-point scale of sexual orientation (Sell, 1997).”

“Much of this work was appropriately conducted with LGBs, although as with research on other topics concerning sexual minorities there is a marked tendency to recruit comparatively small numbers of bisexual persons, subsume their descriptive accounts under those of gay men and lesbians in analyses, and/or overlook the…”