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Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Youth and Adolescence 7/2009

01-08-2009 | Empirical Research

Are Teens “Post-Gay”? Contemporary Adolescents’ Sexual Identity Labels

Auteurs: Stephen T. Russell, Thomas J. Clarke, Justin Clary

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Youth and Adolescence | Uitgave 7/2009

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Abstract

Recent reports suggest that historically typical sexual identity labels—“gay,” “lesbian” and “bisexual”—have lost meaning and relevance for contemporary adolescents. Yet there is little empirical evidence that contemporary teenagers are “post-gay.” In this brief study we investigate youths’ sexual identity labels. The Preventing School Harassment survey included 2,560 California secondary school students administered over 3 years: 2003–2005. We examined adolescents’ responses to a closed-ended survey question that asked for self-reports of sexual identity, including an option to write-in a response; we content analyzed the write-in responses. Results suggest that historically typical sexual identity labels are endorsed by the majority (71%) of non-heterosexual youth. Some non-heterosexual youth report that they are “questioning” (13%) their sexual identities or that they are “queer” (5%); a small proportion (9%) provided alternative labels that describe ambivalence or resistance to sexual identity labels, or fluidity in sexual identities. Our results show that lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities remain relevant for contemporary adolescents.
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Metagegevens
Titel
Are Teens “Post-Gay”? Contemporary Adolescents’ Sexual Identity Labels
Auteurs
Stephen T. Russell
Thomas J. Clarke
Justin Clary
Publicatiedatum
01-08-2009
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Journal of Youth and Adolescence / Uitgave 7/2009
Print ISSN: 0047-2891
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-6601
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9388-2

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