Betydningen av seksuell erfaring, tiltrekning og identitet for ...

Conclusion
The pattern of homosexual behaviour and attraction found among
Norwegian young people is mixed and varied, but some conclusions stand
out. For one, a minority of youths had homosexual experiences during their
adolescence; however, much of this experience was not unequivocally tied
to homosexual attractions and a possible homosexual self-identity at this
age. For a segment of these young people, homoerotic and homosexual
behaviour could be interpreted outside a homosexual orientation perspective,
perhaps even as a continuance of heterosexual sexual development or
inside heterosexual scripts. For others, homosexual experience and attractions
are closely knit, and may be an expression of their homosexual
orientation and a basis for a gay, lesbian or bisexual identity. The results
also indicate that, perhaps due to a stronger stigma of homosexual behaviour
between men, young women in Norway allow themselves to explore
homoerotic relations to a greater extent than young men.
The relationship between homosexual experiences and attractions was
stronger among young men than among young women and there was a
stronger consistency between homosexual behaviours among the young
men. Again, the stronger stigma on male homosexuality restricts sexual
latitude for young men and could explain the finding that romantic attraction
was more common among the homosexually experienced young men than
among the young women. Perhaps homosexual experiences represent a more
fundamental break with heteronormativity for young men and hence are to a
greater degree part of a homosexual orientation?
These results have wider relevance for future research on sexual minority
youth. Based on these results, a reasonable conclusion seems to be that it is
not enough to record homosexual experiences alone to isolate a group of
young people with a gay or lesbian sexual orientation. Over the last couple of
years, several population-based studies of young people from Norway, the US
and Australia have concluded that gay, lesbian and bisexual youth are at
greater risk of suicide attempts and substance abuse (DuRant, Krowchuk, &
Sinal, 1998; Faulkner & Cranston, 1998; Fergusson, Horwood, & Beautrais,
1999; Remafedi, French, Story, Resnick, & Blum, 1998; Wichstrøm & Hegna,
2003). However, when such questions are addressed, the population is in
many cases simply dichotomised on the basis of experiences of homosexuality
(DuRant et al., 1998; Faulkner & Cranston, 1998). The present study indicates
that homosexual behaviour is in many cases not followed by homosexual
attractions and is consequently not an appropriate operationalisation of GLB
– Homo? – 149