Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Burt Matthews Hall, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Arch Sex Behav. 2012 Jun;41(3):641-8. doi: 10.1007/s10508-011-9761-1. Epub 2011 May 17.
We examined reports of sexual orientation identity stability and change over a 10-year period drawing on data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS I and II) and tested for three patterns: (1) heterosexual stability, (2) female sexual fluidity, and (3) bisexual fluidity. Fifty-four percent of the 2,560 participants were female and the average age was approximately 47 years. At Wave 1, 2,494 (97.42%) reported a heterosexual identity, 32 (1.25%) a homosexual identity, and 34 (1.33%) a bisexual identity and somewhat more than 2% reported a different sexual orientation identity at Wave 2. Although some support for each hypothesis was found, initial sexual orientation identity interacted with gender to predict a more complex pattern. For the sample as a whole, heterosexuality was the most stable identity. For women, bisexuality and homosexuality were equally unstable and significantly less stable than heterosexuality, suggesting that sexual orientation identity fluidity is a pattern that applies more to sexual minority women than heterosexual women. For men, heterosexuality and homosexuality were both relatively stable compared to bisexuality, which stood out as a particularly unstable identity. This pattern of results was consistent with previous findings and helps to address methodological limitations of earlier research by showing the characteristics of a population-based sample of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual identified men and women over time.
我们利用美国全国中年发展调查（MIDUS I 和 II）的数据，考察了 10 年间性取向认同稳定性和变化的报告，并检验了三种模式：（1）异性恋稳定性，（2）女性性取向流动性，以及（3）双性恋流动性。2560 名参与者中有 54%为女性，平均年龄约为 47 岁。在第 1 波和第 2 波中，2494 人（97.42%）报告自己的性取向为异性恋，32 人（1.25%）为同性恋，34 人（1.33%）为双性恋，另有略多于 2%的人在第 2 波报告了不同的性取向认同。虽然对每种假设都有一定的支持，但初始性取向认同与性别相互作用，预测出了一种更为复杂的模式。对于整个样本而言，异性恋是最稳定的身份认同。对于女性来说，双性恋和同性恋同样不稳定，且明显不如异性恋稳定，这表明性取向认同的流动性是一种更适用于性少数女性而非异性恋女性的模式。对于男性来说，与双性恋相比，异性恋和同性恋相对稳定，而双性恋则表现出特别不稳定的身份特征。这种结果模式与之前的研究结果一致，并通过展示一段时间内基于人群的异性恋、同性恋和双性恋男性和女性样本的特征，有助于解决早期研究的方法学局限性。
