Sexual Orientation Complexity and Psychosocial/Health Outcomes
Abstract
Individuals whose sexual attraction or behavior varies from others' expectations based on their sexual identity were initially described as exhibiting sexual orientation discordance. This conceptualization has been challenged as inaccurate and value-laden, and "branchedness" has been suggested as a value-neutral description. Using a United States national sample of 4,530 participants from the 2013-2014 Center for Collegiate Mental Health database, we challenge the empirical distinctness of the phenomenon of sexual orientation discordance by 1) replicating previous work that indicates that branched individuals evidence unique psychosocial and health outcomes relative to non-branched individuals and 2) using stepwise regression to demonstrate that these differences in outcomes can be accounted for by variation in sexual attraction, behavior, and identity and that "discordance" between indicators failed to explain additional variation in outcomes. We encourage researchers to adopt non-normative language and conceptualizations in their study of sexual orientation complexity and branchedness.
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Individuals with branched sexualities may experience unique health risk factors and stressors.
“Individuals with branched sexualities1 whose sexual identity, behaviour, and attractions do not align in normative ways—such as straight-identified men who have sex with men—may experience unique health risk factors and stressors (Lefevor et al., 2022; Mendelsohn et al., 2022).”
From Willingness to disclose sexual orientation and gender identity on federal government surveys: A community-based research study with gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer men and nonbinary and Two-Spirit people in Canada (2026) · cites this paper as Lefevor et al., 2022
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lefevor, G. T., Park, S. Y., Acevedo, M. J., & Jones, P. J.
- Affiliations
- Rhodes College (US)
- Brigham Young University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lefevor, G. Tyler
- Venue
- Journal of Homosexuality
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-09-09
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 190-204
- ISSN
- 0091-8369 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-3602
- OpenAlex
- W3084375293
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 6.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Homosexuality (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Keywords
- sexual attraction, sexual behavior, sexual identity, psychosocial outcomes, health outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Female, Gender Identity, Humans, Male, Sexual Behavior, United States, Outcome Assessment, Health Care
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