Educational Attainment and Sexual Orientation in Adolescent and Young Adult Males

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to examine the robustness of the findings on educational advantage among sexual minority men.

Methodology/approach

Using nationally representative data (AddHealth) and controlling for other predictors of academic attainment, we examine the educational attainment of sexual minority males by using hierarchical regression and logistical regression for two measures of sexual identity.

Findings

We find robust differences in educational attainment across analyses and sexual orientation constructs. Our results show sexual minority identity predicts up to a year more of education for male respondents and consistently reporting male homosexuals have an even greater advantage, more than one and a half years, compared to inconsistent responders.

Originality/value

Our results extend previous research on educational outcomes for nonheterosexual adolescents, suggesting there are sustained differences in long-term educational outcomes for nonheterosexual adults and supporting earlier analyses of the AddHealth survey data. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining educational attainment as measured by continuous years and cut-points, using two measures of sexual orientation, providing estimates for all Wave 4 sexual minority identities (i.e., not collapsing any sexual minority category), and controlling for adolescent school geography and type. Moreover, we find early identification of sexual orientation and stability of sexual orientation may be an important source of variation in identifying LGBTQ adolescents who are at greater academic risk or who may benefit from increased social support.

Citation

McQuillan, M.T. (2017), "Educational Attainment and Sexual Orientation in Adolescent and Young Adult Males", Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 121-152. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120170000023007