| This exploratory, retrospective study aims to learn more about the sexuality of 18- year-olds as they entered Louisiana State University (LSU) in the 2001-2009 fall semesters, through the use of an online questionnaire sent to around 800 people on Face Book and to LSU student organizations from November 2009 through January 2010. The research questions are: 1) How are students' self-labeled sexualities (in)congruent with other indicators of sexual orientation?; 2) Are non-heterosexuals who self-identify as homosexual, lesbian, or gay different from those who self-identify as any other non-heterosexual label?; How is orientation (in)congruence related to 3) demographic variables such as hometown community, religiosity, and political ideology, and to 4) childhood gender non-conformity, safer sex, outness, and homophobia?; and 5) Are the variables in Question Four correlated (and, for non-heterosexuals, related to primary phase of sexual orientation development)? This study identifies the group of people whose heterosexual label is incongruent with some other indication of same-sex orientation and compares this group (the Incongruent Heterosexuals) with Congruent Heterosexuals and Non-heterosexuals. Findings include that clearly identifying as homosexual/lesbian/gay (rather than any other non-heterosexual label) is an indication of a more integrated, mature sexuality and safer sexual behavior; that there are pervasive cultural biases toward non-heterosexual people, and especially toward gay men; and that, for non-heterosexuals, higher levels of homophobia and lower levels of outness are related both to each other and to less mature sexual orientation development. The questionnaire included many of D'Augelli, Pilkington, & Hershberger's (2002) demographic questions, and the following embedded instruments: the Boyhood Gender Non-Conformity Scale (Hockingberry and Billingham, 1987, as modified by Phillips and Over, 1992); the Kinsey Scale (Kinsey et al., 1948); Ruth Fassinger's Gay and Lesbian Identity Questionnaires (Revised) (2001); Mohr and Fassinger's Outness Inventory Scale (2000); the Internalized Homophobia Scale (Wagner et al., 1994); and Gregory Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (1988, 1998). |
