BACKGROUND Sexual minorities have documented elevated risk factors that can lead to inflammation and poor immune functioning. PURPOSE This study aims to investigate disparities in C-reactive protein (CRP) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) by gender and sexual orientation. METHODS We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine disparities in CRP (N = 11,462) and EBV (N = ...

This study explores how lesbian and heterosexual pre-adoptive couples experience and construct the transition from infertility to adoption as a means to becoming parents. Thirty lesbian couples and 30 heterosexual couples were interviewed about the challenges and benefits they perceived in attempting conception and then later choosing adoption. Although similarities in perspectives emerged betw...

In this study we examined the division of finances, the division of household tasks, relationship maintenance behaviors, sexual activity, monogamy, and conflict among same-sex couples who had had civil unions in Vermont, same-sex couples who had not had civil unions recruited from their friendship circles, and married heterosexual couples recruited from among their siblings. Married heterosexua...

Vowel production in gay, lesbian, bisexual ~GLB!, and heterosexual speakers was examined. Differences in the acoustic characteristics of vowels were found as a function of sexual orientation. Lesbian and bisexual women produced less fronted /u/ and /Ä/ than heterosexual women. Gay men produced a more expanded vowel space than heterosexual men. However, the vowels of GLB speakers were not genera...

The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed ...

Two recent studies have shown a relationship between “sexual orientation” and size of anterior hypothalamic nuclei; others that hypothalamic serotonin is involved in male sexual arousal and behavior. We hypothesized that serotonergic differences might parallel sexual orientation differences in the hypothalamus. Accordingly, we administered 40 mg of fluoxetine (in a counterbalanced design with p...

The percent of households headed by married couples has recently fallen below 50%, while the percent of unmarried couples (both heterosexual and homosexual) continues to rise. Nationally-representative estimates of unmarried couples which first appeared in the 1990 and 2000 decennial Censuses are now available on an annual basis through the American Community Survey. In this paper we use state-...