Sexualities and Geographic Mobility Between Childhood and Adulthood in the United States

Abstract

Though research suggests that sexual minorities (e.g., nonheterosexual individ uals) are more geographically mobile in the transition to adulthood than their heterosex ual counterparts, quantitative estimates are rare and previously used data sources have sig­nifi­cant lim­i­ta­tions. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 11,705) that directly measure sexualities across dimensions (i.e., identity, behavior, and attraction), I examine variation in geographic mobility between childhood (ages 11–17) and adulthood (ages 26–34) across various sexualities (e.g., gay/les­bian and bisex­ual). Three­fnd­ings emerge. First, mobil­ity varies across sexualities. Individuals with gay/lesbian identity, same-sex behavior, and same-sex attraction are more geo­graph­i­cally mobile than indi­vid­u­als with het­ero­sex­ual iden­tity, dif­fer­ent-sex behav­ior, and dif­fer­ent-sex attrac­tion, respec­tively. By con­trast, indi­vid­u­als with bisexual identity, both-sex behavior, and both-sex attraction tend to be statistically indistinct from indi­vid­u­als with het­ero­sex­ual iden­tity, dif­fer­ent-sex behav­ior, and dif­fer­ent-sex attrac­tion, respec­tively. Second, mobil­ity dif­fer­ences are larg­est and most prev­a­lent when sexualities are operationalized according to identity. Third, evidence suggests that the effects of gay/les­bian iden­tity, same-sex behav­ior, and same-sex attrac­tion on mobil­ity are larger for men than for women. In pro­vid­ing the­frst quan­ti­ta­tive esti­mates of geo­graphic mobil­ity dif­fer­ences across broader sex­ual minor­ity and het­ero­sex­ual populations, this study expands inquiry related to sexualities and mobility.