Abstract
In recent decades, the ways in which sexual minorities identify have changed dramatically. In response, social and health surveys have begun offering a greater range of response options within sexual orientation questions—for example, intermediate categories for “mainly heterosexual” and “mainly lesbian/gay” alongside the more common response options of “heterosexual,” “bisexual,” and “lesbian/gay.” Recent studies indicate that women who identify as “mainly heterosexual” report poorer health, greater health-risk behaviors, and higher rates of victimization than women identifying as “exclusively heterosexual.” However, we know very little about the demographic profile of women who choose the “mainly heterosexual” identity label compared to the adjacent “exclusively heterosexual” or “bisexual” labels or about changes over time in the prevalence and correlates of “mainly heterosexual” identification. This study addressed these knowledge gaps by modeling unique, high-quality survey data from three national cohorts of Australian women (Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, 2000–2017, n = 76,930 observations). Consistent with the facilitative environments model, we document stark cross-cohort increases in the percentage of Australian women identifying as “mainly heterosexual”—from ∼1% of those born in 1946–1951 to ∼26% of those born in 1989–1995, coinciding with comparable declines in the percentage of women identifying as “exclusively heterosexual.” We also found evidence of cohort differences in the associations between key sociodemographic factors—such as age, education, and socioeconomic status—and the likelihood of women identifying as “mainly heterosexual.” Finally, our results indicate that same-sex sexual attractions were more strongly associated with “mainly heterosexual” identification than was same-sex sexual behavior.
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Data Availability
The data used to undertake the analyses presented in this study are publicly available. Please consult the data custodian’s Web site (https://www.alswh.org.au/for-data-users/applying-for-data/) for further information.
Code Availability
The syntax code used to undertake the analyses presented in this study is available from the lead author upon request.
Notes
Some surveys (such as ALSWH) use the term “mainly heterosexual” whereas other surveys (such as the Growing Up Today Study and Add Health) use the term “mostly heterosexual.” Here, we consider the two terms to be interchangeable.
As per the Australian Government’s Department of Health Web site, “Medicare is Australia’s universal health insurance scheme. It guarantees all Australians (and some overseas visitors) access to a wide range of health and hospital services at low or no cost” (Australian Government Department of Health, n.d.).
Naturally, socioeconomic standing may be an outcome of rather than a contributor to same-sex sexuality (Badgett, 2018). Here, we include markers of socioeconomic status as explanatory variables in the model because our interest lies on profiling the women in each of the sexual identity groups, rather than on delineating causal pathways between their sexuality and their life outcomes.
In our analytic sample, none of the mainly heterosexual or bisexual women said that they were attracted only to females, while just 12 (0.26%) of the exclusively heterosexual women did. Likewise, only three bisexual women, three exclusively heterosexual women, and one mainly heterosexual woman reported having sexual experience with females only.
When utilizing longitudinal data, it is important to consider whether non-random attrition is likely to be problematic. Previous analyses indicate that there is little reason for concern regarding non-random attrition due to sexual identity in the ALSWH data (Campbell et al., 2020).
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for a project titled “Sexual Orientation and Life Chances in Contemporary Australia.” The research was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle. We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided the survey data.
Funding
This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for a project titled “Sexual Orientation and Life Chances in Contemporary Australia.”
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The data preparation, data analysis, and initial drafting of the article were performed by Francisco Perales and Alice K. Campbell. Bethany G. Everett, Ruth McNair, and Tonda L. Hughes critically reviewed and added content to the article. All authors read and approved the final article.
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Perales, F., Campbell, A.K., Everett, B.G. et al. Prevalence and Sociodemographic Correlates of Identifying as Mainly Heterosexual: Stability and Change across Three Cohorts of Australian Women. Arch Sex Behav 50, 3459–3477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02000-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02000-0