THE LATENT STRUCTURE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Alyssa Lynne Norris

Alfred Kinsey produced a paradigm shift in the understanding of sexual orientation when he conceptualized sexual behavior and fantasy as a continuum. Since that time, researchers have debated whether sexual orientation exists on a continuum or as categories as well as how to define the construct of sexual orientation. One ongoing criticism of the research on sexual orientation is its reliance on fixed-choice, limited response options (e.g., heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian) and its focus on sexual behavior rather than a broader assessment of romantic or emotional attachment. This dissertation addressed these limitations by first creating a comprehensive measure of sexual and romantic attraction, fantasy, behavior and infatuation, which was submitted to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. These factor analyses revealed that the Sexual Orientation Scale consisted of two factors for women (Same-Sex Orientation Factor; Other-Sex Orientation Factor) and four factors for men (Same-Sex Orientation Factor; Intimacy with Women Factor; Dating Women Factor; Infatuation with Women Factor). Men’s desired intimacy, enacted behaviors, and infatuation with women did not represent one coherent construct like it did for women. The second portion of the dissertation utilized taxometric analysis to answer whether sexual orientation is categorical or continuous. Using two indicators (same-sex orientation, other-sex orientation), a series of analyses demonstrated that sexual orientation consists of discrete categories, with 6% of men (base rate range: .04 – .079) and 7.6% of women (base rate range: .02 – .135) belonging to a same-sex oriented class of individuals. Members of the same-sex oriented taxon reported poorer mental health, including significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in addition to significantly greater rates of non-suicidal self-injury.

THE LATENT STRUCTURE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION

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