The life course of gay and lesbian youth: an immodest proposal for the study of lives

The authors raise questions about several fundamental assumptions and methods regarding study of the development of gay and lesbian youth. Primary among these are the validity of reliance on respondents' recollections regarding their childhood and adolescent experiences; inferences about developmental processes and outcomes made on the basis of cross-sectional samples; the time-specific, cohort-bound nature of many previous constructs and findings; and the persistent search for continuities between childhood gender behavior and adult sexual orientation. In consequence, the emerging body of theory is largely a developmental psychology of the remembered past. Strategies are suggested for longitudinal, prospective research on homosexual adolescents, shifting attention from child-based, "causal" models to those of adolescent and adult-centered perspectives. Aimed at understanding life changes and the developmental processes and course of negotiating them, longitudinal methods will more accurately reflect current experiences of gay and lesbian youth coming of age in a unique historical context. Findings from studies of the life course have direct implications for modification of current developmental theories, particularly those that can inform gay and lesbian-sensitive clinical services for all age groups.