ORIGINAL PAPER Stability of Self-Reported Same-Sex and Both-Sex Attraction from Adolescence to Young Adulthood Yueqin Hu 1 • Yishan Xu 2 • Samantha L. Tornello 3 Received: 20 November 2013 / Revised: 15 September 2014 / Accepted: 15 February 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract This study examined how sexual attraction varied across age, gender of participant, and gender of romantic partner, from adolescence to early adulthood. Comparisons between same-sex and both-sex attracted individuals were of particular interest. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth), we examined the responses of participants who reported experiencing same-sex attractions or both-sex attractions at least once within four waves (n = 1889). Results indicated that same-sex attractions became more stable over time, whereas both-sex attraction remained unstable even into adulthood. Compared with males, females were less stable in same-sex attraction, but more stable in both-sex attraction. The majority of people who reported same-sex attraction did not report having a same-sex romantic partner before they entered adulthood, and those who reported a same-sex romantic partner were more likely to maintain their same-sex attraction than those who did not. As males got older, the gender of their romantic partner tended to become more consistent with their sexual attraction. However, for females, the consistency between the gender of their romantic partner and sexual attraction did not change over time. Keywords Same-sex attraction Á Bisexuality Á Gender Á Romantic relationship Á Transition to adulthood Á Sexual orientation Introduction Over the past two decades, studies have been conducted to examine how the awareness of sexual orientation among les- bian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) people develops across the lifespan. Much of the literature has focused on three dimensions of sexual orientation: sexual attraction, sexual behavior (gender of sexual partners), and sexual identity (labeling as heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian/gay) (Institute of Medicine, 1999; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994). The order in which individuals acknowledge their sexual attraction, self-label their sexual identity, and engage in sexual behavior can vary (e.g., Savin- Williams & Diamond, 2000). Savin-Williams and Diamond found a 10-year gap between personal acknowledgements of sexual attraction around 8–9 years of age and sexual orienta- tion disclosure at around 18 years of age. The average age of first self-labeling as lesbian, gay, or bisexual can vary. Most research shows that this occurs between 14 and 21 years of age (e.g., Perrin, 2002; Savin-Williams & Diamond, 2000), which implies that the transition from adolescence to young adulthood is a critical period in the development of sexual orientation. Stability/Mobility in Sexual Orientation Traditionally, research on sexual orientation has viewed sexual orientation as a stable trait (Bell, Weinberg, & Hammersmith, 1981; Money, 1988). More recent research, however, has found sexual orientation to be more fluid. For example, subsequent studies found that LGB youth report shifts in their sexual attractions, behaviors, and identities over time (Diamond, 2005; Ott, Corliss, Wypij, Rosario, & Austin, 2011; Savin-Williams & Ream, 2007). Also, individuals who self-identified as lesbian do & Yueqin Hu yjh4@txstate.edu 1 Department of Psychology, Texas State University, UAC 253C, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA 2 Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA 3 Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University- Altoona, Altoona, PA, USA 123 Arch Sex Behav DOI 10.1007/s10508-015-0541-1