THE PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN LESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL YOUTHS

An examination of cognitive sexual orientation, sexual partner activit y, and sexual identity was conducted among 76 lesbian/bisexual female youths and 80 gay/bisexual male youths (age range of 14-21 years) recr uited from community-based or college organizations for lesbian/gay yo uths in New York City. Self-identification as lesbian/gay or bisexual changed over time; more than. half the youths who identified as lesbia n/gay at the interview had considered themselves bisexual in the past, and vice versa. A modal developmental sequence of cognitions and beha viors was found: Most youths first became aware of a cognitive sexual orientation (e.g., attractions and fantasies) toward the same or other sea then considered a lesbian/gay or bisexual identity, and finally f elt certain of a lesbian/gay or bisexual identity. Age at initiation o f sexual activity with females or males was inconsistently related to this pattern. Significant gender differences indicated that females we re older than males when they first considered (M years of 13.9 and 12 .5, respectively) or were certain of (M years of 15.9 and 14.6 years, respectively) being lesbian/gay. The majority of youths had a history of sexual activity with the same sex (88% of females and 95% of males) and the other sex (80% of females and 56% of males). The youths becam e sexually active during the early adolescent years, both with the sam e sex and the other sex. Their sexual practices, with the same and oth er sex, followed an. initiation sequence beginning with manual (i.e., hand-genital) sex during the early teens and ending with anal practice s during the middle and late teens. No significant gender differences were found in lifetime prevalence rates or ages at initiating sexual p ractices with the same sex. Gender differences were found for other-se x partners: Females became sexually active at an older age than did ma les, and more females than males engaged in heterosexual activity. No significant differences in the psychosexual variables were found among Black, Hispanic, White, and youths of other ethnic backgrounds.