Childhood Maltreatment, Gender Nonconformity, and Adolescent Sexual Orientation: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study

• Xu, Yin ^[1] ; Norton, Sam ^[1] ; Rahman, Qazi ^[1]
  1. [1] King's College London

     King's College London

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 91, Nº. 4, 2020, págs. 984-994
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13317
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This study tested whether associations between childhood maltreatment and adolescent sexual orientation were accounted for by childhood gender nonconforming behavior (GNCB) in a prospective birth cohort (N = 5,007). Childhood parental maltreatment (physical and emotional) and GNCB were assessed on multiple occasions up to age 6 years, and sexual orientation at 15.5 years. Boys with a history of maltreatment were significantly more likely to be nonheterosexual. Using propensity score weighting, maltreatment was associated with a 3.5% (p = .03) increase in the prevalence of nonheterosexuality accounting for confounders not including GNCB, and by 2.9% (p = .06) when also accounting for GNCB. These findings suggest that maltreatment is associated with an increased prevalence of nonheterosexuality in boys but may be explained by confounding factors including GNCB.