Abstract
Sexual identity formation or “coming out” as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) involves a complex process including both private realization and public disclosure. Private realization refers to the process through which an individual becomes aware of their LGB identity, whereas public disclosure reflects when an individual discloses their identity to another person. Sex, race, and class affect the timing of these processes across the life course. While extant research has identified the bivariate nature of these processes, we took a multivariate approach to understand the timing of these sexual identity milestones from a life-course perspective. Using data from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 Survey of LGBT Adults (n = 1136), we considered how the timing of private realization and public disclosure of LGB identity is a sexed, racialized, and classed experience. The sample consisted of lesbians (n = 270), gay males (n = 396), bisexual females (n = 342), and bisexual males (n = 127). Results indicated that females uniformly realized and disclosed their identities at later stages in the life course, whereas individuals with at least some college education came out during their prime college-age years. We also found variation in timing between private realization and public disclosure for Black respondents, but not other racial groups. These findings provide insight into how organizations can develop specific programs that allow LGB individuals to safely explore their sexuality and provide support over the life course.
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Notes
Sex and gender are often conflated terms. While sex and gender are different socially constructed categories, research that explicitly focuses on gender (i.e., women) reports similar findings for women as research that employs sex-based categories (i.e., female) (Jensen, 1999; Martos et al., 2015; van Anders, 2015).
Respondents were categorized as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender based on information provided in the pre-interview stage. Fifty-three respondents who originally reported their sexuality as bisexual later reported they were “straight.” Prior research suggests that those who engage in same-sex relations may not identify with a certain group (Rupp, Taylor, Regev-Messalem Fogarty, & England 2014; Ward, 2015) and that this may be more pronounced for people who navigate a bisexual identity (Scherrer et al., 2015). These cases were dropped from the analysis along with anyone who stated they have not become aware of or disclosed their LGBT identity.
Sensitivity analyses included two different approaches. First, we conceptualized age categories in 5-year (e.g., 13 or under, 14–19, 20–24, 25–29, 30 or older) and 10-year intervals (e.g., 9 or younger, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40 or older). Model fit statistics indicated the categories selected in the empirical analyses presented are preferred. Second, we explored how our independent variables and controls were associated with age as a continuous variable. We conducted a series of multi-variable analyses of variance (MANOVA) and document the average age for a respondent in a particular social group. Results are available upon request.
We recognize that gender identity and sex do not overlap for some participants and dropping all transgender respondents from the survey assumes all respondents are cisgender. However, not all non-trans identifying individuals may be cisgender; this is a limitation of the survey.
We tested the continuous variable of age, as well as a 5-year incremented variable (e.g., 18–22, 23–27), and a 10-year incremented variable (e.g., 18–27, 28–37). Model fit statistics and similarity in the relationships provide evidence that these identified cohort-like groupings of age are the preferred operationalization.
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Acknowledgements
In addition to the anonymous reviewers and editor, we would like to acknowledge David Warner, Amanda Baumle, and the Inequality Working Group at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for their guidance and comments on early drafts. We would also like to acknowledge the Pew Research Center for providing the data we use in this article. Both authors have contributed equally to the construction of this manuscript. The majority of the research for this manuscript was conducted while the authors were Ph.D. students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Haltom, T.M., Ratcliff, S. Effects of Sex, Race, and Education on the Timing of Coming Out among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults in the U.S.. Arch Sex Behav 50, 1107–1120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01776-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01776-x