Abstract
Previous studies investigating the familialnature of sexual orientation have often relied on thereports of siblings. They have generally obtainedextremely high accuracy rates for proband rating of the sexual orientation of siblings. However,participants in these studies have probably beenunusually open about their sexual orientation, and thusit is uncertain if more representative participantswould have as accurate knowledge about theirfamilies. An unselected sample of twins from theAustralian Twin Registry rated their own, theircotwins', and their siblings' sexual orientations. Weexamined accuracy of heterosexual and homosexual probands'assessments of their twins' sexual orientations, as wellas cotwins' agreement about other siblings'orientations. Concordance between twins' ratings oftheir cotwins' orientations with the cotwins' self-ratedorientations was considerably lower than that found inprevious studies, as was the level of agreement betweenmembers of a twin pair in the assessment of other siblings' sexual orientations. Marital historyas a proxy variable for determining the sexualorientation of older subjects did not support its usewith women, though its use for older men received some weak support.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bailey, J. M., and Benishay, D. S. (1993). Familial aggregation of female sexual orientation. Am. J. Psychiat. 150: 272–277.
Bailey, J.M, Dunne, M. P., and Martin, N. G. (submitted). The distribution, correlates and determinants of sexual orientation in an Australian twin sample. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.
Bailey, J.M., and Pillard, R. C. (1991). A genetic study of male sexual orientation. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 48: 1089–1096.
Bailey, J. M., Pillard, R. C., Neale, M. C., and Agyei, Y. (1993). Heritable factors influence sexual orientation in women. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 50: 217–223.
Bailey, J. M., Pillard, R. C., Dawood, K., Miller, M. B., Trivedi, S., Farrer, L. A., and Murphy, R. L. (1997). A family history study of male sexual orientation: No evidence for X-linked transmission. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Baker, L. A., Treloar, S. A., Reynolds, C. A., Heath, A. C., and Martin, N. G. (1996). Genetics of educational attainment in Australian twins: Sex differences and secular changes. Behav. Genet. 26: 89–102.
Blanchard, R., and Bogaert, A. F. (1997). Additive effects of older brothers and homosexual brothers in the prediction of marriage and cohabitation. Behav. Genet. 27: 45–54.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educ. Psychol. Measur. 20: 37–46.
Hamer, D. H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V. L., Hu, N., and Pattatucci, A. M. (1993). A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science 261: 321–327.
Landis, J. R., and Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33: 159–174.
Miller, P., Mulvey, C., and Martin, M. (1997). Family characteristics and the returns to schooling: Evidence on gender differences from a sample of Australian twins. Economica 64: 119–136.
Pillard, R. C., and Weinrich, J. D. (1986). Evidence of familial nature of male homosexuality. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 43: 808–812.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kirk, K.M., Bailey, J.M. & Martin, N.G. How Accurate Is the Family History Method for Assessing Siblings' Sexual Orientation?. Arch Sex Behav 28, 129–137 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018715821801
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018715821801