Genetic and environmental influences on female sexual orientation, childhood gender typicality and adult gender identity

Human sexual orientation is influenced by genetic and non-shared environmental factors as are two important psychological correlates--childhood gender typicality (CGT) and adult gender identity (AGI). However, researchers have been unable to resolve the genetic and non-genetic components that contri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2011-07, Vol.6 (7), p.e21982-e21982
Main Authors: Burri, Andrea, Cherkas, Lynn, Spector, Timothy, Rahman, Qazi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Analysis
Attraction
Biology
Capital gains tax
Child
Childhood
Children
Demography
Environment
Environmental factors
Error analysis
Female
Females
Gays & lesbians
Gender aspects
Gender differences
Gender Identity
Genetic analysis
Humans
Male
Medicine
Middle Aged
Models, Biological
Multivariate Analysis
Orientation
Phenotype
Sexual Behavior
Sexual orientation
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Studies
Surveys
Twins
Twins - genetics
Young Adult
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Summary:Human sexual orientation is influenced by genetic and non-shared environmental factors as are two important psychological correlates--childhood gender typicality (CGT) and adult gender identity (AGI). However, researchers have been unable to resolve the genetic and non-genetic components that contribute to the covariation between these traits, particularly in women. Here we performed a multivariate genetic analysis in a large sample of British female twins (N = 4,426) who completed a questionnaire assessing sexual attraction, CGT and AGI. Univariate genetic models indicated modest genetic influences on sexual attraction (25%), AGI (11%) and CGT (31%). For the multivariate analyses, a common pathway model best fitted the data. This indicated that a single latent variable influenced by a genetic component and common non-shared environmental component explained the association between the three traits but there was substantial measurement error. These findings highlight common developmental factors affecting differences in sexual orientation.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0021982