Same difference
Same-Sex Married Tax Filers After Windsor and Obergefell
Robin Fisher, Geof Gee & Adam Looney
Demography, August 2018, Pages 1423–1446
Abstract:
This article provides new estimates of the number and characteristics of same-sex married couples after U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 2013 and 2015 established rights to same-sex marriage. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service subsequently ruled that same-sex spouses would be treated as married for federal tax purposes. Because almost all married taxpayers file joint tax returns, administrative tax records provide new information on the demographic characteristics of married same-sex couples. This study provides estimates of the population of same-sex tax filers drawn from returns filed in 2013, 2014, and 2015, using methods developed by the U.S. Census Bureau to address measurement error in gender classification. We estimate that approximately 0.48% of all joint filers in 2015 were same-sex couples, or approximately 250,450 couples.
Differential Effects of the US Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Decision on National Support for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Civil Rights and Sexual Prejudice
Paul Perrin et al.
Sexuality Research and Social Policy, September 2018, Pages 342–352
Abstract:
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage throughout all US states and territories. Before that decision, after, and 1 year later, this successive-independent samples study identified clusters of individuals across the US based on worldview ideologies and used those clusters to examine effects of the SCOTUS decision on support for gay rights and sexual prejudice. Participants were 407 adults from 49 US states and territories. A cluster analysis identified three worldview groups: conservatives (23.6%), moderates (30.2%), and progressives (46.2%). Although no overall changes emerged over time in support for gay rights or sexual prejudice, the conservative group showed a marked polarization after the SCOTUS decision, becoming less supportive of gay rights and more prejudiced. Worldviews explained 68.3% of the variance in same-sex marriage support, 67.5% in gay rights support, and 68.8% in sexual prejudice, effects approaching nearly three times a large-sized effect in the social sciences. These findings add nuance to our understanding of the attitudinal impact of court decisions or legislation around progressive issues like same-sex marriage and gay rights, as well as the potential barriers to cultural progress on these issues.
Changing Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage: A Three-Wave Panel Study
Hye-Yon Lee & Diana Mutz
Political Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Opinions toward gay marriage, also known as same-sex marriage, have become dramatically more favorable in the last 20 years. Given the more accepting attitudes of younger Americans, generational replacement is one widely noted engine of change. However, the pace of shifts in public attitudes has been too rapid for this to be the sole explanation. Identifying other causes of increasing support has been difficult due to reliance on cross-sectional associations. Using nationally representative panel data from 2008 to 2016, we test three potential explanations for changes in public attitudes toward gay marriage. Our findings suggest that increased interpersonal contact with gays and lesbians, declining religiosity, and increasing levels of education in the U.S. all contributed to the rise in public support for same-sex marriage.
A Quantitative Test of Critical Heterosexuality Theory: Predicting Straight Identification in a Nationally Representative Sample
Tony Silva
Sexuality Research and Social Policy, September 2018, Pages 353–366
Abstract:
Using Add Health, a US-based nationally representative survey, this study predicts the likelihood of identifying as straight among (1) individuals who reported same-sex attractions and/or sexual practices and (2) among those who reported neither, given that many respondents nonetheless identified as something other than straight. It also (3) predicts the likelihood of changing one’s sexual identity to heterosexuality across survey waves. Weighted logistic regression identifies political conservatism and religiosity as predictors of straight identification and changing to a straight sexual identity, even after controlling for attractions and sexual practices. The results suggest that individuals with same-sex attractions and/or sexual practices do not identify as straight simply because of limitations of well-known sexual identities (straight, bisexual, gay/lesbian), given that Add Health offered more nuanced options, such as mostly straight. Instead, the results suggest that non-sexual social factors, such as religiosity and conservative political attitudes — themselves shaped by patterned social forces — are keys to heterosexual identification and heterosexual identity change. This paper offers the first quantitative test of critical heterosexuality theory using a nationally representative sample, suggesting that the approach is theoretically generalizable beyond qualitative studies.
The Palliative Effects of System Justification on the Health and Happiness of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals
Alexandra Suppes, Jaime Napier & Jojanneke van der Toorn
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Across three studies, we examine the correlates of subjective well-being and mental and physical health among members of a historically disadvantaged group, namely, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Results show those who minimize (vs. acknowledge) the extent to which their group is the target of discrimination report better well-being across myriad indicators (Studies 1-3). We also demonstrate that this effect is mediated by perceived system fairness (Study 1); holds above and beyond internalized homonegativity (Studies 1 and 3) and ingroup identification (Studies 2-3); and is true regardless of whether individuals reside in hostile or accepting environments (Study 2), and regardless of whether individuals had personally experienced discrimination (Study 3). For some indicators (namely, body mass index [BMI], social well-being, self-esteem, depression, and mental illness diagnosis), the relationship between minimization of discrimination and well-being was stronger among those who had frequent (vs. rare) discriminatory experiences.
No compelling evidence that more physically attractive young adult women have higher estradiol or progesterone
Benedict Jones et al.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, December 2018, Pages 1-5
Abstract:
Putative associations between sex hormones and attractive physical characteristics in women are central to many theories of human physical attractiveness and mate choice. Although such theories have become very influential, evidence that physically attractive and unattractive women have different hormonal profiles is equivocal. Consequently, we investigated hypothesized relationships between salivary estradiol and progesterone and two aspects of women’s physical attractiveness that are commonly assumed to be correlated with levels of these hormones: facial attractiveness (N = 249) and waist-to-hip ratio (N = 247). Our analyses revealed no compelling evidence that women with more attractive faces or lower (i.e., more attractive) waist-to-hip ratios had higher levels of estradiol or progesterone. One analysis did suggest that women with more attractive waist-to-hip ratios had significantly higher progesterone, but the relationship was weak and the relationship not significant in other analyses. These results do not support the influential hypothesis that between-women differences in physical attractiveness are related to estradiol and/or progesterone.
The Association Between Fraternal Birth Order and Anal-Erotic Roles of Men Who Have Sex with Men
Charles Wampold
Archives of Sexual Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
The fraternal birth order effect (FBOE) describes the phenomenon that homosexual men tend to have a greater number of older brothers than do heterosexual men. The FBOE is a marker for an innate, biological predisposition for androphilia in genotypic males. The FBOE has been studied since the 1930s and is the most consistent biodemographic correlate of sexual orientation in men. This study sought to determine whether the FBOE applies equally to all men who have sex with men (MSM), or disproportionately to MSM whose anal intercourse behavior is predominantly receptive (Bottoms). Participants included 243 North American adult MSM who responded to advertisements posted on a Web site and other electronic media associated with the GALA festival, a quadrennial gathering of gay and lesbian choruses. Each was asked whether his anal intercourse behavior during the preceding year was predominantly receptive, predominantly penetrative, or about equally receptive and penetrative. Those who indicated their behavior was predominantly receptive were coded “Bottoms”; all others were coded “Not-Bottoms.” Participants were also surveyed as to their sibship composition. Bottoms had a significantly greater mean number of older brothers than did Not-Bottoms. There was no significant difference with respect to older or younger sisters or younger brothers. Further, the older sibling sex ratio (OSSR) for the Bottom cohort, but not for the Not-Bottom cohort, was significantly higher than the expected OSSR for the general male population (OSSR = No. older brothers/No. older sisters × 100; expected OSSR for general population = 106). Thus, late fraternal birth order was correlated with receptive anal-erotic behavior among MSM.
Pubertal onset and anal sex role among gay men
Ashlyn Swift-Gallant et al.
Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Developmental theories of sexual orientation largely center on sexual differentiation processes. One hypothesis is that low prenatal androgens are associated with same-sex attraction in men. Using indirect measures of androgens (e.g., height, weight, pubertal onset), this hypothesis has received mixed support, suggesting there may be subgroups of gay men who differ in their developmental biology. Here we assessed whether subgroups of gay men (n = 312) based on anal sex role (ASR) preference and behavior differ in pubertal onset, weight, height, and/or body hair compared with heterosexual men (n = 127). Gay men with a top ASR had an earlier pubertal onset, were taller, and had more body hair compared with other gay men (bottom ASR, versatile ASR) and heterosexual men. Also, gay men with a bottom ASR were intermediate in their pubertal onset between gay men with a top ASR and heterosexual men, and they reported less body hair compared with these same groups. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that there are subgroups of gay men who differ in aspects of biological development that contribute to their sexual orientation. Furthermore, our results indicate earlier pubertal onset in gay men is associated with increased masculine somatic traits.