Same Sex Attraction
“Same Sex Attraction in Adolescents”
By
Heliodora Eldredge
Adolescent Psychology 211
Mary Baldwin College
Abstract
It is important to understand that people do not choose to be homosexual. No one wakes up day when they are 15 years old and decides to become homosexual after being heterosexual all their live. In fact, the experience of many people is that they felt different from their earliest memories. Further, not only they did not welcome those feelings, they resisted them for years.
So, if people are not born homosexual and they do not choose to be homosexual, what is left? This is a very controversial and complex topic. There are theories that include a combination of psychological factors (parent-child relationship, environmental (peer group influences) and biological factors that together with human choice contribute with different degrees to the development of sexual orientation. This variety of factor may constitute a push in the direction of homosexuality, at the same time; there is no evidence that this push render human choice which in the end becomes irrelevant. The origins of homosexuality are still not clearly understood to the scientific community. However, science has begun to show that comparing same-sex attraction to race or eye color, both of which are entirely determined by our genes, is not a good comparison. The scientific community generally agrees that is very unlikely that there is one biological or genetic cause for all homosexuals. There is also data showing that genetic and hormonal factors during pre-natal development may have some impact on sexual desires from person to person.
Because increasing number of adolescents are disclosing their sexual orientation at an earlier age than their predecessors in conjunction with increased gay activism, parents and educators need to have a better understanding of the nature of this behavior and the process that takes place inside the individual’s mind and feelings until
By
Heliodora Eldredge
Adolescent Psychology 211
Mary Baldwin College
Abstract
It is important to understand that people do not choose to be homosexual. No one wakes up day when they are 15 years old and decides to become homosexual after being heterosexual all their live. In fact, the experience of many people is that they felt different from their earliest memories. Further, not only they did not welcome those feelings, they resisted them for years.
So, if people are not born homosexual and they do not choose to be homosexual, what is left? This is a very controversial and complex topic. There are theories that include a combination of psychological factors (parent-child relationship, environmental (peer group influences) and biological factors that together with human choice contribute with different degrees to the development of sexual orientation. This variety of factor may constitute a push in the direction of homosexuality, at the same time; there is no evidence that this push render human choice which in the end becomes irrelevant. The origins of homosexuality are still not clearly understood to the scientific community. However, science has begun to show that comparing same-sex attraction to race or eye color, both of which are entirely determined by our genes, is not a good comparison. The scientific community generally agrees that is very unlikely that there is one biological or genetic cause for all homosexuals. There is also data showing that genetic and hormonal factors during pre-natal development may have some impact on sexual desires from person to person.
Because increasing number of adolescents are disclosing their sexual orientation at an earlier age than their predecessors in conjunction with increased gay activism, parents and educators need to have a better understanding of the nature of this behavior and the process that takes place inside the individual’s mind and feelings until