A fourth explanation is that maltreatment increases likelihood of same-sex sexuality. A second explanation proposes that sexual orientation minorities disproportionately exhibit gender-nonconforming behaviors in childhood ( Rieger, Linsenmeier, Gygax, & Bailey, 2008 Roberts, Rosario, Corliss, Koenen, & Austin, 2012) and are targeted for maltreatment ( Alanko et al., 2010).Ī third explanation is that reported differences are attributable to differential recall of maltreatment by sexual orientation, due either to self-reflection during the coming out process or to differential willingness to endorse stigmatizing experiences ( Corliss et al., 2002). The first is that nascent same-sex sexuality causes childhood maltreatment, through two pathways: (1) adolescents who reveal their same-sex sexual orientation are targeted for maltreatment ( D’Augelli & Grossman, 2001 Saewyc et al., 2006) and (2) adolescents exploring same-sex attractions may put themselves in risky situations, increasing likelihood of maltreatment ( Corliss et al., 2002 Holmes & Slap, 1998). Four explanations have been proposed for this association. Better understanding of this potentially complex causal structure is critical to developing targeted strategies to reduce sexual orientation disparities in exposure to abuse.Įpidemiological studies find a positive association between childhood maltreatment and same-sex sexuality in adulthood, with lesbians and gay men reporting 1.6 to 4 times greater prevalence of sexual and physical abuse than heterosexuals ( Corliss, Cochran, & Mays, 2002 Hughes, Haas, Razzano, Cassidy, & Matthews, 2000 Roberts, Austin, Corliss, Vandermorris, & Koenen, 2010 Saewyc et al., 2006). Our results suggest that causal relationships driving the association between sexual orientation and childhood abuse may be bidirectional, may differ by type of abuse, and may differ by sex. While point estimates suggest much of the association between maltreatment and sexual orientation may be due to the effects of maltreatment on sexual orientation, confidence intervals were wide. Effects of non-sexual maltreatment were significant only for men and women’s sexual identity and women’s same-sex partners. Effects of sexual abuse on men’s sexual orientation were substantially larger than on women’s. In instrumental variable models, history of sexual abuse predicted increased prevalence of same-sex attraction by 2.0 percentage points (95% confidence interval = 1.4, 2.5), any same-sex partners by 1.4 percentage points (95% CI = 1.0, 1.9), and same-sex identity by 0.7 percentage points (95% CI = 0.4, 0.9). Our study used instrumental variable models based on family characteristics that predict maltreatment but are not plausibly influenced by sexual orientation (e.g., having a stepparent) as natural experiments to investigate whether maltreatment might increase the likelihood of same-sex sexuality in a nationally representative sample (n = 34,653). Nascent same-sex orientation may increase risk of maltreatment alternatively, maltreatment may shape sexual orientation. Epidemiological studies find a positive association between physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing violence in childhood and same-sex sexuality in adulthood, but studies directly assessing the association between these diverse types of maltreatment and sexuality cannot disentangle the causal direction because the sequencing of maltreatment and emerging sexuality is difficult to ascertain.