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Sexual identity, attraction and behaviour in Britain: The implications of using different dimensions of sexual orientation to estimate the size of sexual minority populations and inform public health interventions
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BACKGROUND: Sexual orientation encompasses three dimensions: sexual identity, attraction and behaviour. There is increasing demand for data on sexual orientation to meet equality legislation, monitor potential inequalities and address public health needs. We present estimates of all three dimensions and their overlap in British men and women, and consider the implications for health services, research and the development and evaluation of public health interventions. METHODS: Analyses of data from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, a probability sample survey (15,162 people aged 16-74 years) undertaken in 2010-2012. FINDINGS: A lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) identity was reported by 2·5% of men and 2·4% of women, whilst 6·5% of men and 11·5% of women reported any same-sex attraction and 5·5% of men and 6·1% of women reported ever experience of same-sex sex. This equates to approximately 547,000 men and 546,000 women aged 16-74 in Britain self-identifying as LGB and 1,204,000 men and 1,389,000 women ever having experience of same-sex sex. Of those reporting same-sex sex in the past 5 years, 28% of men and 45% of women identified as heterosexual. INTERPRETATION: There is large variation in the size of sexual minority populations depending on the dimension applied, with implications for the design of epidemiological studies, targeting and monitoring of public health interventions and estimating population-based denominators. There is also substantial diversity on an individual level between identity, behaviour and attraction, adding to the complexity of delivering appropriate services and interventions.
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“and similar results were found in the United Kingdom (Geary et al. 2018; Wellings et al. 1994).”
From Intersections between Sexual Identity, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Behavior among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Men and Women (2019) · cites this paper as Geary et al. 2018
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“The estimates for those who identify as gay or bisexual are slightly larger here compared to the proportion of people who identify as gay or bisexual in the United Kingdom and Australia (see Geary et al. 2018; Richters et al. 2014)”
From Intersections between Sexual Identity, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Behavior among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Men and Women (2019) · cites this paper as Geary et al. 2018
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“This pattern is also seen in data from Australia (Richters et al. 2014) and the United Kingdom (Geary et al. 2018), and is consistent with past research in the United States (England et al. 2016; Gates 2011; Korchmaros et al. 2013).”
From Intersections between Sexual Identity, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Behavior among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Men and Women (2019) · cites this paper as Geary et al. 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Geary, R. S., Tanton, C., Erens, B., Clifton, S., Prah, P., Wellings, K., Mitchell, K. R., Datta, J., Gravningen, K., Fuller, E., Johnson, A. M., Sonnenberg, P., & Mercer, C. H.
- Affiliations
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- University Hospital of North Norway (NO)
- NatCen Social Research (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Tanton, Clare
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2018-01-02
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e0189607
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5749676
- OpenAlex
- W2782502410
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 20.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council (G0701757)
- Wellcome Trust (084840)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Keywords
- sexual orientation, sexual identity, sexual attraction, sexual behavior, public health interventions, Great Britain
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Minority Groups, Sexual Behavior, Public Health Practice, Young Adult
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