Embracing difference
Same-Sex Sexual Attraction Does Not Spread in Adolescent Social Networks
Tiffany Brakefield et al.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Peers have a powerful effect on adolescents' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Here, we examine the role of social networks in the spread of attitudes towards sexuality using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Although we found evidence that both sexual activity (OR = 1.79) and desire to have a romantic relationship (OR = 2.69) may spread from person to person, attraction to same sex partners did not spread (OR = 0.96). Analyses of comparable power to those that suggest positive and significant peer-to-peer influence in sexual behavior fail to demonstrate a significant relationship on sexual attraction between friends or siblings. These results suggest that peer influence has little or no effect on the tendency toward heterosexual or homosexual attraction in teens, and that sexual orientation is not transmitted via social networks.
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The Cost of Keeping It Hidden: Decomposing Concealment Reveals What Makes It Depleting
Clayton Critcher & Melissa Ferguson
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
People possess information or identities that it sometimes behooves them to conceal, but at what cost? Participants who were instructed to conceal information during a short interview - either their sexual orientation (Studies 1-3) or specified words (Study 4) - showed evidence of self-regulatory depletion. Concealment led to deficits in intellectual acuity, interpersonal restraint, physical stamina, and executive function. We decomposed depletion into 2 component processes that, together or separately, might contribute to the observed depletion. When actively concealing information, one must monitor for specific content to inhibit. If taboo content is detected, one must modify or alter one's speech from what one would have said otherwise. Concealment produced depletion even when there was no need to actually alter one's speech (Studies 2 and 4), demonstrating that monitoring one's speech for content to conceal was sufficient to cause depletion. In contrast, having to alter one's speech without having to monitor for specific content to inhibit - either by adding false content (Study 3) or inserting specific words into one's speech stream (Study 4) - did not lead to measurable depletion. In this way, the studies are the first to assess which part of an act of self-regulation - monitoring for specific behavior to override or the actual altering of that behavior - is responsible for observed depletion. Furthermore, the research suggests that social environments that explicitly or implicitly encourage identity concealment may prevent people from performing optimally.
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Pornography Consumption and Attitudes Toward Homosexuality: A National Longitudinal Study
Paul Wright & Soyoung Bae
Human Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study utilized national panel data gathered in 2008 (T1) and 2010 (T2) to examine associations between Black and White U.S. adults' pornography consumption and homosexuality attitudes (indexed via moral judgments of homosexuality and attitudes toward same-sex marriage). Pornography consumption at T1 predicted interindividual change in attitudes toward more acceptance of homosexuality at T2 for moral individualists, Whites, and men. Women expressed more positive homosexuality attitudes than men, but their attitudes did not vary with exposure to pornography. Homosexuality attitudes at T1 did not predict interindividual change in the probability of pornography consumption at T2. Results were parallel when moral judgments of homosexuality and attitudes toward same-sex marriage were analyzed separately or were combined into a composite index.
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Sexual Orientation and Gender Typicality of the Occupation in Young Adulthood
Koji Ueno, Teresa Roach & Abráham Peña-Talamantes
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has shown that sexual minorities are more likely than heterosexuals to work in occupations that are atypical for their genders. This study seeks to extend the literature by examining the association between sexual orientation and gender typicality at the occupational-title level. The analysis focuses on the young adult population and uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Consistent with previous research, people who report same-sex orientation and both-sex orientation tend to have more gender-atypical occupations than those who report other sex orientation. This difference is observed regardless of the sexuality measure used (attraction, dating relationships, sexual contact, or identity), although sexual minorities' tendency to hold gender-atypical occupations is more pronounced for men than women and for people who report same-sex orientation than those who report both-sex orientation. Contrary to previous arguments and common belief, gender-typed behaviors in adolescence account very little for the difference. Instead, educational qualifications, marital status, and parental status help explain the difference. Much of the gap remains unexplained, highlighting the need to examine the role of sexuality discrimination in future research.
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Basic Instinct Undressed: Early Spatiotemporal Processing for Primary Sexual Characteristics
Lore Legrand et al.
PLoS ONE, July 2013
Abstract:
This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics associated with conscious and non-conscious processing of naked and dressed human bodies. To this effect, stimuli of naked men and women with visible primary sexual characteristics, as well as dressed bodies, were presented to 20 heterosexual male and female participants while acquiring high resolution EEG data. The stimuli were either consciously detectable (supraliminal presentations) or were rendered non-conscious through backward masking (subliminal presentations). The N1 event-related potential component was significantly enhanced in participants when they viewed naked compared to dressed bodies under supraliminal viewing conditions. More importantly, naked bodies of the opposite sex produced a significantly greater N1 component compared to dressed bodies during subliminal presentations, when participants were not aware of the stimulus presented. A source localization algorithm computed on the N1 showed that the response for naked bodies in the supraliminal viewing condition was stronger in body processing areas, primary visual areas and additional structures related to emotion processing. By contrast, in the subliminal viewing condition, only visual and body processing areas were found to be activated. These results suggest that naked bodies and primary sexual characteristics are processed early in time (i.e., <200 ms) and activate key brain structures even when they are not consciously detected. It appears that, similarly to what has been reported for emotional faces, sexual features benefit from automatic and rapid processing, most likely due to their high relevance for the individual and their importance for the species in terms of reproductive success.
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Girls in detail, boys in shape: Gender differences when drawing cubes in depth
Lange-Küttner & M. Ebersbach
British Journal of Psychology, August 2013, Pages 413-437
Abstract:
The current study tested gender differences in the developmental transition from drawing cubes in two- versus three dimensions (3D), and investigated the underlying spatial abilities. Six- to nine-year-old children (N = 97) drew two occluding model cubes and solved several other spatial tasks. Girls more often unfolded the various sides of the cubes into a layout, also called diagrammatic cube drawing (object design detail). In girls, the best predictor for drawing the cubes was Mental Rotation Test (MRT) accuracy. In contrast, boys were more likely to preserve the optical appearance of the cube array. Their drawing in 3D was best predicted by MRT reaction time and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). This confirmed boys' stronger focus on the contours of an object silhouette (object shape). It is discussed whether the two gender-specific approaches to drawing in three dimensions reflect two sides of the appearance-reality distinction in drawing, that is graphic syntax of object design features versus visual perception of projective space.
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Sex Differences in the Development of Brain Mechanisms for Processing Biological Motion
L.C. Anderson et al.
NeuroImage, forthcoming
Abstract:
Disorders related to social functioning including autism and schizophrenia differ drastically in incidence and severity between males and females. Little is known about the neural systems underlying these sex-linked differences in risk and resiliency. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a task involving the visual perception of point-light displays of coherent and scrambled biological motion, we discovered sex differences in the development of neural systems for basic social perception. In adults, we identified enhanced activity during coherent biological motion perception in females relative to males in a network of brain regions previously implicated in social perception including amygdala, medial temporal gyrus, and temporal pole. These sex differences were less pronounced in our sample of school-age youth. We hypothesize that the robust neural circuitry supporting social perception in females, which diverges from males beginning in childhood, may underlie sex differences in disorders related to social processing.
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Benjamin Trumble et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Testosterone plays an important role in mediating male reproductive trade-offs in many vertebrate species, augmenting muscle and influencing behavior necessary for male-male competition and mating-effort. Among humans, testosterone may also play a key role in facilitating male provisioning of offspring as muscular and neuromuscular performance is deeply influenced by acute changes in testosterone. This study examines acute changes in salivary testosterone among 63 Tsimane men ranging in age from 16 to 80 (mean 38.2) years during one-hour bouts of tree-chopping while clearing horticultural plots. The Tsimane forager-horticulturalists living in the Bolivian Amazon experience high energy expenditure associated with food production, have high levels of parasites and pathogens, and display significantly lower baseline salivary testosterone than age-matched US males. Mixed-effects models controlling for BMI and time of specimen collection reveal increased salivary testosterone (p < 0.001) equivalent to a 48.6% rise, after one hour of tree chopping. Age had no effect on baseline (p = 0.656) or change in testosterone (p = 0.530); self-reported illness did not modify testosterone change (p = 0.488). A comparison of these results to the relative change in testosterone during a competitive soccer tournament in the same population reveals larger relative changes in testosterone following resource production (tree chopping), compared to competition (soccer). These findings highlight the importance of moving beyond a unidimensional focus on changes in testosterone and male-male aggression to investigate the importance of testosterone-behavior interactions across additional male fitness-related activities. Acutely increased testosterone during muscularly intensive horticultural food production may facilitate male productivity and provisioning.
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Cirleen DeBlaere et al.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
We utilize an additive intersectionality framework in the present study to examine the relations among perceived racism, sexism, and heterosexism and the psychological distress of self-identified sexual minority women of color. Participants (N = 134) aged 19 to 75 recruited through electronic mailing lists, discussion groups, and virtual communities aimed toward sexual minority women of color completed online surveys. When each form of discrimination was examined in a single multiple regression analysis, only perceived heterosexism explained significant and positive variance in psychological distress. In addition, collective action was tested as a moderator of the effects of racism, sexism, and heterosexism on psychological distress; specifically, the potential attenuating roles of three forms of collective action (race and ethnicity, feminist, and sexual minority) in the respective racism → distress, sexism → distress, and heterosexism → distress links were investigated. Sexual minority collective action buffered the heterosexist experiences → psychological distress link. More specifically, in the context of lower collective action, perceived heterosexism positively predicted distress; however, perceived heterosexism did not predict psychological distress at higher levels of collective action. No other significant interaction effects were found. Our results suggest that discrimination experiences continue to be important to assess in research and practice with marginalized individuals. Also, encouraging clients to engage in collective action could represent a useful intervention tool for counselors.
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Sexual Victimization and Associated Risks Among Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Amy Hequembourg, Jennifer Livingston & Kathleen Parks
Violence Against Women, May 2013, Pages 634-657
Abstract:
This study examines relationships among childhood sexual abuse (CSA), risky alcohol use, and adult sexual victimization among bisexual and lesbian women. Half (51.2%) of women reported CSA and 71.2% reported adult sexual victimization. Perpetrators were generally male, and 56.4% of women's most recent adult sexual victimization incidents occurred after coming out. Regression results indicated that adult sexual victimization severity was associated with a bisexual identity, more severe CSA history, more lifetime sexual partners, and higher alcohol severity scores. Compared to lesbians, bisexual women reported more severe adult sexual victimization experiences, greater revictimization, riskier drinking patterns, and more lifetime male sexual partners.
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Brittany Charlton et al.
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, forthcoming
Objectives: To examine whether sexual orientation is associated with disparities in teen pregnancy and hormonal contraception use among adolescent females in two intergenerational cohorts.
Study Design: Data were collected from 91,003 women in the Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), born between 1947-1964, and 6,463 of their children, born between 1982-1987, enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS). Log-binomial models were used to estimate risk ratios (RR) for teen pregnancy and hormonal contraception use in sexual minorities compared to heterosexuals and meta-analysis techniques were used to compare the two cohorts.
Results: Overall, teen hormonal contraception use was lower and teen pregnancy was higher in NHSII than GUTS. In both cohorts, lesbians were less likely, whereas the other sexual minorities were more likely, to use hormonal contraception as teenagers compared to their heterosexual peers. All sexual minority groups in both cohorts, except NHSII lesbians, were at significantly increased risk for teen pregnancy, with RRs ranging from 1.61 (95%CI 0.40, 6.55) to 5.82 (95%CI 2.89, 11.73). Having a NHSII mother who was pregnant as a teen was not associated with teen pregnancy in GUTS participants. Finally, significant heterogeneity was found between the two cohorts.
Conclusions: Adolescent sexual minorities have been, and continue to be, at increased risk for pregnancy. Public health and clinical efforts are needed to address teen pregnancy in this population.