Change in sexual orientation identity and its influencing factors among college students

  Objective  To examine the change in sexual orientation identity and its influencing factors among college students.

  Methods  We conducted a two-wave survey among 2 291 college students selected with cluster sampling in a university in November 2014 and 2016. A self-designed demography and sexual orientation questionnaire and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) were used in the survey.

  Results  Totally 96 (4.19%) and 177 (7.73%) of the participants reported homosexual, bisexual and uncertain sexual orientation in the first- and second-wave survey. There were 7.94% of the participants reporting changes in sexual orientation during the 2-year period. Higher rate of sexual orientation change was reported by the participants with bisexual orientation (χ² = 680.14, P < 0.001), female gender (χ² = 5.74, P < 0.05), being only-child (χ² = 15.59, P < 0.001), from families in big cities (χ² = 17.72, P < 0.001), without left-behind experience (χ² = 6.26, P < 0.05), and with higher maternal and paternal education level (χ² = 12.71 and χ² = 14.53, both P < 0.01) compared to the participants with other sexual orientation, male gender, non-only child, from families in other regions, being non only-child, with left-behind experience, and lower maternal and paternal education level. The scores of childhood abuse, emotional abuse and neglect were higher among the participants reporting the change in sexual orientation than those not reporting the change (P < 0.05 for all).The results of logistic regression analysis showed that male gender (odds ratio OR = 0.679), being a non only-child (OR = 0.611), from a family in a big city (OR = 1.198), and with more childhood emotional abuse (OR = 1.174) were main influencing factors of changes in sexual orientation.

  Conclusion  The sexual orientation is more unstable among the college students with bisexual orientation, female gender, being only-child, from families in big cities, without left-behind experience, with higher maternal and paternal education level; gender, whether being a only-child, familial residence, and childhood emotional abuse are main influencing factors of sexual orientation change in college students.