Older Gay Men's Sexual Experiences as Boys with Men: An Empirical and Narrative Analysis.

A dominant view among researchers is that boys' sexual interactions with adult men are traumatizing. In contrast, many gay men recall childhood sexual experiences with adult males as positive. The current study tested for both of these outcomes by examining recalled boyhood sexual experiences of older gay men.

Same-Sex Sexual Behavior, Age-Class, and Coalitions in Male Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta).

In the present study, relations between same-sex sexual behavior (SSB), age-class, and coalitional behavior in male rhesus macaques were examined in a re-analysis of data first analyzed and reported by Clive et al. (2023). Age-class as a focal variable was indicated in an extensive literature review, which showed that male non-adult (juvenile, adolescent) participation in SSB is extensive in this and related primate species and associated with various benefits.

Subjective Reactions to First Coitus in Relation to Participant Sex, Partner Age, and Context in a German Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults.

Analysis of a Finnish nationally representative student sample found that subjective reactions to first intercourse (mostly heterosexual; usually in adolescence) were highly positive for boys and mostly positive for girls, whether involved with peers or adults (Rind, 2022). The present study examined the generality of these findings by examining subjective reactions to first coitus (heterosexual intercourse) in a German nationally representative sample of young people (data collected in 2014). Most first coitus was postpubertal.

Reactions to Minor-Older and Minor-Peer Sex as a Function of Personal and Situational Variables in a Finnish Nationally Representative Student Sample.

Felson et al. (2019) used a large-scale nationally representative Finnish sample of sixth and ninth graders to estimate the population prevalence of negative subjective reactions to sexual experiences between minors under age 18 and persons at least 5 years older and between minors and peer-aged partners for comparison. They then accounted for these reactions in multivariate analysis based on contextual factors.

First Sexual Intercourse in the Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships: Current Functioning in Relation to Age at Time of Experience and Partner Age.

The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships, based on a nationally representative sample of Republic of Ireland adults in 2004-2005, was used to examine adult adjustment in individuals who had their first sexual intercourse as a minor with an adult. Participants were classified into one of four groups based on their age at first intercourse and their partner's age: minors under 18 with peers; minors under 16 with adults; minors 16 to 17 with adults; and adults with adults. Adjustment (health, general relationships, satisfaction with most recent sexual partner, self-confidence, education and career achievement, and sexual problems) was compared across groups separately by gender.

First Postpubertal Same-Sex Sex in Kinsey's General and Prison Male Same-Sex Samples: Comparative Analysis and Testing Common Assumptions in Minor-Adult Contacts.

Kinsey's prison male same-sex sample (consisting of prisoners who were gay, bisexual, or had had extensive postpubertal same-sex sex regardless of sexual attractions) was compared with Kinsey's general (i.e., non-prison) same-sex sample (previously analyzed by Rind and Welter, 2016) in terms of reactions to and characteristics of first postpubertal same-sex sex, with a focus on minor-adult contacts.

First Postpubertal Male Same-Sex Sexual Experience in the National Health and Social Life Survey: Current Functioning in Relation to Age at Time of Experience and Partner Age.

This study used an important data set to examine long-term adjustment and functioning in men, who as adolescents had sexual experiences with men. The data came from the National Health and Social Life Survey, which used a national probability sample (Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994). Three perspectives were considered, which offered different predictions.

Reactions to First Postpubertal Female Same-Sex Sexual Experience in the Kinsey Sample: A Comparison of Minors with Peers, Minors with Adults, and Adults with Adults.

This study examined reactions to first postpubertal same-sex sexual experience in the Kinsey female same-sex sample (consisting of females with extensive postpubertal same-sex experience) as a function of participant and partner ages. As such, it complemented the Rind and Welter (2016) study, which examined the same in the Kinsey male same-sex sample. Data were collected by Kinsey interviewers between 1939 and 1961 (M year = 1947).

Reactions to First Postpubertal Male Same-Sex Sexual Experience in the Kinsey Sample: A Comparison of Minors With Peers, Minors With Adults, and Adults With Adults.

Rind and Welter (2014) examined first postpubertal coitus using the Kinsey sample, finding that reactions were just as positive, and no more negative, among minors with adults compared to minors with peers and adults with adults. In the present study, we examined first postpubertal male same-sex sexual experiences in the Kinsey same-sex sample (i.e.

Enjoyment and emotionally negative reactions in minor–adult versus minor–peer and adult–adult first postpubescent coitus: A secondary analysis of the Kinsey data.

Using the original Kinsey sample, enjoyment and emotionally negative reactions to first postpubescent coitus were examined in relation to whether the coitus occurred as a legal minor (aged under 18) with an adult (5 or more years older), a minor with a peer (within 4 years of age), or an adult with an adult (both 18 or older). These responses were further examined in subdivisions of the minor–adult and adult–adult categories. Given widely held professional and lay assumptions that minor–adult sex is intrinsically traumatic or aversive, tested was whether reactions to minor–adult coitus were characteristically negative, irrespective of gender, and distinctly more negative than minor–peer and adult–adult coitus.

Homosexual orientation-from nature, not abuse: A critique of Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013).

Roberts, Glymour, and Koenen (2013), using instrumental variable models, argued that child abuse causes homosexual orientation, defined in part as any same-sex attractions. Their instruments were various negative family environment factors. In their analyses, they found that child sexual abuse (CSA) was more strongly related to homosexual orientation than non-sexual maltreatment was, especially among males.

Hebephilia as mental disorder? A historical, cross-cultural, sociological, cross-species, non-clinical empirical, and evolutionary review.

Blanchard et al. (2009) demonstrated that hebephilia is a genuine sexual preference, but then proposed, without argument or evidence, that it should be designated as a mental disorder in the DSM-5. A series of Letters-to-the-Editor criticized this proposal as a non sequitur.

National samples, sexual abuse in childhood, and adjustment in adulthood: a commentary on Najman, Dunne, Purdie, Boyle, and Coxeter (2005).

This article comments on the Najman, Dunne, Purdie, Boyle, and Coxeter (2005) study on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and later sexual functioning in an Australian national sample. We note the value of the Najman et al. study, being well conducted and using a generalizable sample, but critique Najman et al.