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In later writings, Freud (1935) asserted that homosexuality was not a “vice,” “degradation,” or “illness.” Rather, he seemed to view homosexuality as an atypical variation in sexuality due to unresolved intrapsychic conflicts during childhood psychosexual development. Freud theorized that homosexuality was a result of problems that arise during psychosexual development, such as boys becoming overly attached to and identifying with their mother instead of their father, feeling intense castration anxiety that leads boys to reject women because they are “castrated,” and narcissistic self-obsession that leads boys to choose an object of attraction that resembles themselves ( Lewes, 1988). According to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, humans were innately bisexual and became heterosexual or homosexual based on childhood experiences with parents ( Freud, 1905). For most of the 20th century, queer desires, behaviors, and identities that exist outside the norm of heterosexuality have been generally viewed as deviant and abnormal. Scholarship regarding the sexual orientation identity development of LGB+ people has evolved over the past 100years.
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Historical Overview of Scholarship on LGB+ Identity Development This article is a systematic review and meta-analysis of the recent empirical literature on sexual orientation identity development milestones among LGB+ people. Historically, scholarship on LGB+ identity development was rooted in heterosexist notions and hindered by the limited number of completed studies however, research in this area has continued to emerge and evolve. Sexual orientation is a multidimensional construct, referring to an individual’s positioning on key dimensions of sexuality: sexual attraction, sexual behavior, romantic orientation, and sexual orientation identity ( Mustanski et al., 2014 Hall, 2019). For example, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another sexual minority identity (e.g., queer and pansexual LGB+) navigate different tasks and milestones related to their stigmatized minority sexual orientation. Although commonalities exist in sexual orientation identity development, there are diverse trajectories across individuals and groups. Sexual orientation identity development refers to changes, processes, and experiences over time that can involve awareness, exploration, appraisal, commitment, integration, and communication concerning a person’s identity as a sexual being, which is based on their patterns of sexual attractions and behaviors. Although patterns were found in LGB+ identity development, there was considerable diversity in milestone trajectories. Additional meta-analyses showed that milestone timing varied by sex, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and birth cohort. Nonetheless, results also showed substantial heterogeneity in the mean effect sizes. Meta-analysis results showed that the mean effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals varied by milestone: attraction, questioning one’s orientation ), self-identifying, sexual activity, coming out, and romantic relationship.
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Milestones occurred in different sequences, although attraction was almost always first, often followed by self-identification and/or sexual activity coming out and initiating a romantic relationship often followed these milestones. Common milestones measured in the 30 studies reviewed were becoming aware of queer attractions, questioning one’s sexual orientation, self-identifying as LGB+, coming out to others, engaging in sexual activity, and initiating a romantic relationship. This paper is a systematic review and meta-analysis on sexual orientation identity development milestones among people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another sexual minority identity (LGB+). School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.