Understanding the Link Between Adolescent Same-Gender Contact and Unintended Pregnancy: The Role of Early Adversity and Sexual Risk Behavior

Parents' Reproductive Concerns and Negativity Toward Their Child Disclosing a Minoritized Sexual Orientation

Parents often respond negatively when a child discloses their minoritized sexual orientation. We propose that parents' negativity in this context may be shaped by evolutionary concerns regarding their children's reproductive outcomes. We tested relevant hypotheses in a correlational study (Study 1) and two randomized experiments (Studies 2 and 3) that recruited parents with children under age 6 as participants. Study 1 (N = 386; 192 mothers and 194 fathers; 84.68% non-Hispanic White) revealed associations between parents' concerns regarding their children's reproductive outcomes and views toward a child disclosing a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) orientation in the future. The most negative views were reported by parents with elevated reproductive concerns and pessimistic beliefs about the possibility of reproduction for LGB individuals. Studies 2 (N = 327 mothers; 84.10% non-Hispanic White) and 3 (N = 279 fathers; 81.00% non-Hispanic White) tested whether information about reproductive assistance available to same-gender couples might promote more favorable views toward a child's hypothetical LGB orientation disclosure relative to control information. Parents who received reproductive versus control information reported more positive attitudes toward having an LGB child and toward the LGB community. These effects were statistically mediated by their more optimistic beliefs about the possibility of LGB reproduction. Taken together, this work suggests that reproductive concerns may influence parents' views toward their children's sexual orientation disclosures, and alleviating these concerns may be one way to improve parents' relationships with their sexually diverse children.

Early adversity and sexual diversity: the importance of self-reported and neurobiological sexual reward sensitivity

Work shows that sexually-diverse individuals face high rates of early life adversity and in turn increased engagement in behavioral outcomes traditionally associated with adversity, such as sexual risk taking. Recent theoretical work suggests that these associations may be attributable to heightened sexual reward sensitivity among adversity-exposed women. We aimed to test these claims using a combination of self-report and EEG measures to test the relationship between early adversity, sexual reward sensitivity (both self-reported and EEG measured) and sexual risk taking in a sexually diverse sample of cis-gender women (N = 208) (Mage = 27.17, SD = 6.36). Results showed that childhood SES predicted self-reported sexual reward sensitivity which in turn predicted numbers of male and female sexual partners. In contrast we found that perceived childhood unpredictability predicted neurobiological sexual reward sensitivity as measured by EEG which in turn predicted male sexual partner number. The results presented here provide support for the notion that heightened sexual reward sensitivity may be a pathway through which early life adversity augments future sexual behavior, and underscores the importance of including greater attention to the dynamics of pleasure and reward in sexual health promotion.

Examining Associations Between Participant Gender, Desired Partner Gender, and Views Toward Sexually Coercive Behaviors

Sexual coercion—pursuit of sexual activity with a partner who has not provided full consent (Huppin & Malamuth, Sexual Coercion, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2015) is a pervasive problem that carries psychological and financial costs. Although much past research has focused on sexually coercive acts performed by men and directed at women, the current work evaluates the independent and interactive roles of participant gender, desired partner gender, and sexual orientation in predicting individuals’ views toward sexual coercion, a psychological outcome linked with coercive sexual behavior (e.g., Zinzow & Thompson in Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44:213–222, 2015). To this end, 1021 cisgender men and women (M_age = 26.46 years) who self-identified as heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or bisexual rated the acceptability of sexually coercive behaviors performed by individuals of their gender. Consistent with past behavioral research, men rated these acts to be more acceptable when performed by same-gender others than did women. Extending past research, this gender difference was observed across variation in desired partner genders and sexual orientations. Further, an attraction to women predicted higher acceptability ratings among men but not among women. Finally, identification as heterosexual (as compared to gay/lesbian or bisexual) predicted more favorable views toward these behaviors across participant gender. Taken together, these findings suggest that men who are attracted to women (specifically) may be most likely to view coercive behaviors as acceptable, and thus may be most likely to utilize them, when pursuing sexual activity.