Adoption has been seen as a good solution for providing each party involved in the traditional adoption (i.e. , young birth parents, infants, and infertile couples) with a positive outcome. Adoptions, however, are generally more complex and diverse than supposed. Variables such as age of placement, levels of abuse and neglect, and foster care have been shown to place adopted children at risk for later struggles and challenges. Research studying outcomes of adopted young adults and their formation of heterosexual relations has been very limited. Most adoption studies have focused their attention on young school-age or teenage children, or on adopted adults trying to find their biological parents. It has only been in the last few years that research has begun to focus attention on adopted youth and young adults and their transition to intimate relationships. This study uses data collected in Wave III by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The Add Health Wave III sample consisted of 15,170 young adults, of which 487 were verified as being adopted. Abuse and neglect were looked and in conjunction with adoption in order to identify potential confounds to explain potential adoption effects. Adopted and non-adopted groups were compared along with abused and neglected groups using standardized mean differences, t tests, logistic regression and polytomous logistic regression in order to detemine the effects of adoption and abuse and neglect on several heterosexual relationship outcome variables. The present study provides support for four conclusions about comparisons between adopted and non-adopted young adults' heterosexual relationships. First, adoption by itself has a small but significant effect upon sex and cohabitation variables, but has linle impact upon violence and sati sfaction in relationships. Second, the age at which a person is adopted seems to have little or no effect upon any of the sex, cohabitation, relationship violence, or satisfaction variables. Third, a history of abuse and neglect in childhood has a small but significant effect upon most sex and cohabitation variables, with a larger effect upon variables dealing with relationship violence and satisfaction. Fourth, the combination of adoption and abuse shows the largest effects on all intimate relationship variables. Findings indicate that adoption does not have as great an impact on relationship variables as theorized. Abuse and neglect seem to play a much larger role in negative heterosexual relationship outcomes.

This study examines differences in quality of life measures between heterosexual and homosexual respondents using General Social Survey data from 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. Analyses of quality of life are performed in an effort to compare the heterosexual and homosexual population of the United States. The three main areas which are explored in the analysis are physical health, general happiness, and life excitement. Few differences were found in subjective life satisfaction between heterosexuals and homosexuals; however, some control variables differed. Directions for future research regarding homosexuality and quality of life are discussed.

The present study examined the viability of a model of biased language use (e.g., Maass et al., 1989; Maass et al., 1996) as a measure of anti-lesbian prejudice among heterosexual women. As a matter of methodological and psychometric exploration, four alternative methods of scoring linguistic abstraction were employed.One hundred eighty-one female university undergraduates provided abstraction ratings for a series of seven fictitious news clippings, adapted from von Hippel et al. (1997), four of which depicted either heterosexual or lesbian women engaging in behaviors that were either socially favorable or unfavorable and lesbian stereotypic or counterstereotypic. Participants also completed a "Memory Test" devised for this study, a demographic questionnaire, and the ATL Subscale of the ATLG (Herek, 1988, 1994).The prediction that the linguistic expectancy bias (LEB; e.g., Maass, 1999) would be observed in the present intergroup context was not supported. The overall pattern of results suggested some stability across scoring methods. A number of implications of the findings are considered, with a focus on methodological concerns and applications to practice. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

In Jane Austen’s Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey there is a central theme of finding a marriage partner from economic, social and love perspectives. The focus of this essay is to look from a materialist feminist perspective at how these factors influence the characters’ marital matches. I have also looked at how love as a sought after ideal in marriage conceals the social and economic factors’ influence. The novels all discuss how women’s marginalized economic position forces them to marry. Social factors such as women’s need to find a husband and their expected domestic role have also had an influence. Love works in the novels to support the oppression of women by justifying marriage and concealing women’s unequal role in society.

In the United States, same-sex relationships have been a popular topic for the past decade, largely in relation to marriage. This phenomenological study examined the life experiences of African American women currently in same-sex relationships but previously in heterosexual relationships. Exploring the participants' experiences to the fullest extent was important to understand each person's journey through the stigma and biases that she faced when making life choices. Given the rarity of literature on the subject matter, professional practitioners and clinicians may not know how to assist these women. Queer and social identity theories were applied in exploring the directed research question, which focused on avenues the participants consciously chose to take in order to pursue the lifestyles they wanted to live. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 10 African American women aged 40 and older who were in same-sex relationships at the time of the study but had previously been in heterosexual relationships, and who lived in the 5 boroughs of New York City. The study recruitment method was snowball sampling, and numerous interview questions were used to capture the essence of each woman's experiences. Inductive analyses revealed a positive and productive social change for practitioners, clinicians, educators, and researchers concerning African American women in same-sex relationships who were previously in heterosexual relationships. Psychologists and researchers who work directly with African American women in same-sex relationships might benefit from these findings.

Bakgrund: Gruppen äldre icke-heterosexuella i Sverige beräknas omfatta 80 000 personer. I sjuksköterskeutbildningen existerar begränsad kunskap om äldre HBT-personer. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva upplevelsen av att vara äldre och icke-heterosexuell. Metod: I litteraturstudien sammanställdes åtta kvalitativa artiklar publicerade mellan 2001 och 2009. Litteratursökningar genomfördes i databaserna CINAHL, PsychINFO och PubMed. Efter genomläsning, kvalitetsbestämning och analys av innehållet sammanställdes artiklarna i fem kategorier och 16 subkategorier. Resultat: Äldre icke-heterosexuella såg på och hanterade sin sexuella identitet på olika sätt. Överlag tyckte många deltagare att de hade ett gott självförtroende samt kände att de var nöjda med livet. Många upplevde dock ålderism och kände sig dåligt bemötta i vården samt upplevde att de inte hade samma lagliga rättigheter som heterosexuella. Vissa icke-heterosexuella valde att medvetet dölja sin sexuella läggning exempelvis av rädsla för negativa attityder. Andra levde öppet med sin sexuella identitet. Slutsats: Ett synliggörande av äldre icke-heterosexuella är nödvändigt. Ökad kunskap och attitydförändringar är viktiga för att äldre homo- och bisexuella ska känna sig likvärdigt behandlade och trygga i vården. Resultaten kommer förhoppningsvis att leda till en ökad kunskap om och större förståelse för äldre icke-heterosexuella personer i vården. Vidare forskning om äldre HBT-personer behövs. / Background: The group of elderly non-heterosexuals in Sweden is estimated to include 80,000 people. Within the nursing programme, there is limited knowledge about older LGBT people. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the experience of being elderly and non-heterosexual. Method: In this literature study eight qualitative articles, published between 2001 and 2009, were compiled. Literature searches were performed in the databases CINAHL, PsychINFO and PubMed. After perusal, determination of the quality and analysis of the content, the articles were compiled into five categories and 16 subcategories. Results: Older non-heterosexuals viewed and dealt with their sexual identity in different ways. Overall, many participants in the studies experienced a high level of confidence and satisfaction with their lives but many experienced ageism and felt discriminated within nursing contexts. Several of the participants felt that they did not have the same legal rights as heterosexuals do. Some non-heterosexuals chose to deliberately conceal their sexual orientation due to fear of negative attitudes while others lived openly with their sexual identity. Conclusion: It is necessary to make the older non-heterosexuals visible. In order to make elderly non-heterosexuals feel secure and equally treated in health care, increased awareness and changes in attitudes are important. Hopefully, the findings will result in better knowledge and greater understanding of elderly non-heterosexuals in the nursing context. Further research is needed on older LGBT persons.

Introduction: The incidence of anal cancer, whose primary cause is human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, has increased in United States (US) men almost three-fold in three decades; however, little is known about the epidemiology of anal HPV, especially in heterosexual men. Furthermore, advancements in knowledge about the epidemiology of anal HPV may be hampered by measurement error in the collection of sexual behavior data. Methods: From two US cities, behavioral data and anal biological specimens were collected from 253 men who acknowledged sexual intercourse with a woman in the previous year. PCR and genotyping were used to assess the presence of HPV DNA. In addition, two HPV questionnaires were assessed for test-retest reliability: the first was a self-administered questionnaire associated with the collection of the biological specimens while the second was a computer-assisted self-interview (CASI) with 1069 men in Brazil, Mexico, and the US. Results: Based on DNA analysis, overall anal HPV prevalence was 24.8% in 222 men who acknowledged no prior sexual intercourse with men. Risk factors independently associated with anal HPV were lifetime number of female sexual partners and frequency of sex with females in the past month. Based on kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), both HPV questionnaires were found to be highly reliable with low refusal rates; however, three discrete measures in the multi-national interview asking for the number of sexual partners had lower reliability. The ICC of these questions increased to greater than or equal to 0.79 when a small number of extreme outliers (less than or equal to 3) were removed. Predictors of unreliable reporting were age and lifetime number of female sexual partners while years of education was inversely associated with unreliable reporting. Discussion: These results suggest anal HPV is common in heterosexual men. Risk factors associated with anal HPV did not explain how HPV was transmitted to the anal region. Both instruments used to collect sexual behavior data were highly reliable including the CASI instrument used in three culturally and linguistically distinct countries; however, caution is warranted with discrete measures that ask participants to report the number of sexual partners.

Midlife adults who have divorced or never married represent a growing demographic in North America. Despite this fact, little research has examined the dating and sexual behaviours of these individuals. Research has instead focused on the dating and sexual lives of young adults, particularly undergraduate students. The current research program examined young (aged 18-24 years) and midlife (aged 35-54 years) single (or recently single) heterosexual North American adults’ typical first date scripts and their retrospective perceptions of their first date experiences. More specifically, Study 1 examined young and midlife adults’ typical first date scripts. Participants were asked to list at least 20 actions that a woman would typically perform on a first date with someone new, from the beginning of the date to its end, putting the actions in the order in which they would occur. Participants were then instructed to carry out the task a second time, focusing on the actions that a man would typically perform on a first date with someone new. Study 2 examined young and midlife adults’ retrospective accounts of their actual first date scripts, as well as their actual first date sexual behaviour. Participants were asked to list at least 20 actions that they performed on their most recent first date, from the beginning of the date to its end, putting them in the order in which they occurred. They were also asked to complete a revised Guttman scale of sexual behaviours, checking off from a list the behaviours that occurred on their most recent first date. Across both studies, analyses revealed three key patterns with respect to gender roles. First, contrary to expectations, young adults tended to be more traditional than midlife adults with respect to first dates. Second, midlife adult women tended to be less traditional than expected with respect to first dates. Lastly, in keeping with expectations, women were depicted as taking a passive role and men were depicted as taking a more active role in the scripts. Implications of the findings and recommendations for future research follow.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 4, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-361).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [197]-205).