Sexual Experimentation in Heterosexual, Bisexual, Lesbian/Gay, and Questioning Adolescents From Ages 11 to 15

To examine adolescent sexuality development, we analyzed data from a British cohort study (N = 5,070), which assessed the same 12–14 sexual activities at ages 11, 12, 13, and 15, and sexual orientation identity at age 15. The sexual activities ranged from low (e.g., cuddling), moderate (e.g., kissin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of research on adolescence 2020-06, Vol.30 (2), p.423-439
Main Authors: Li, Gu, Davis, Jacqueline T. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - psychology
Adolescent development
Adolescent sexuality
Age Distribution
Bisexuality
Child
Cohort analysis
Experiments
Female
Heterosexuality
Humans
Identity
Kissing
Lesbianism
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Sex differences
Sex Distribution
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Sexual behavior
Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data
Sexual intercourse
Sexual orientation
Teenagers
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To examine adolescent sexuality development, we analyzed data from a British cohort study (N = 5,070), which assessed the same 12–14 sexual activities at ages 11, 12, 13, and 15, and sexual orientation identity at age 15. The sexual activities ranged from low (e.g., cuddling), moderate (e.g., kissing), to high (e.g., sexual intercourse) intensity. We found that most adolescents having sexual activities of low‐to‐moderate intensity with same‐sex individuals also had them with other‐sex individuals, and adolescents having other‐sex contacts of low intensity often reported them nonexclusively. Furthermore, other‐sex and same‐sex sexual activities did not reliably distinguish between sexual orientation identities. Sex differences in these phenomena were absent or small. These findings suggest that many adolescents have low‐intensity nonexclusive sexual behaviors.
ISSN:1050-8392
1532-7795
DOI:10.1111/jora.12535