The Change of Heterosexual Preference in Adolescents: Implications of Stress and Cognitive Regulation on Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Sexual orientation is a complex area. It is unclear to date how people precisely establish their preferred sexual objects. This paper presents two cases, whose heterosexual preference were changed in late adolescent age after a severe psychological event, to draw attention to the study of the possible underlying mechanism. Case 1, one identical male twin, was seriously punished at age 12 years, as he loved a girl in his classroom. Afterwards, he feared to contact with girls, and became attracted to young men at age 17 years, and kept same-sex sexual behaviors since then. However, his twin brother is always heterosexual.