Psychological characteristics preceding the development of homosexuality

490 gay men and 235 heterosexual men were surveyed to reveal frequency of distribution of childhood and adolescence gender non-conformity in gay men compare to similar features in straight men. Significant differences identified between two samples. The vast majority of gay men had history of various combinations of identity problems, crossgender behavior, communication problems, difficulties in adoption normative gender roles, the inability to find a common language with peers. In heterosexual sample basis were communicative problems related to particular personality features of some part of the control group. Gender-variance by itself cannot be regarded as an obvious sign indicating the development of homosexuality. In some cases it is a sign of congenital determinants that lead to the same sex sexual attraction, and in others this is only contributing personality characteristics facilitating under certain circumstances occurrence of erotic attachments to persons of the same gender.

homosexuality, psychosexual development, prehomosexual personality, gender identity