Differences between sexual orientation behavior groups and social background, quality of life, and health behaviors

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Abstract
Within the literature, there is some question as to whether bisexual or homosexual persons practice more unhealthy lifestyles and experience a lower quality of life than heterosexual individuals. This study examined possible differences between sexual orientation behavior groups (homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, and no sex partners) on demographic and social background variables, quality of life variables, lifestyle and health variables, and mental health or health background variables in a series of seven national probability samples between the years 1988 and 1996. Respondents were asked to report the sex of their sexual partners since they were age 18 and in the last 12 months. Data from a total of 11,543 interviews were collected by the National Opinion Research Center. Although there were some demographic and social background differences among the sexual orientation behavior (SORB) groups, there was little evidence that the behavioral dimension of sexual orientation is either strongly or directly related to quality of life, lifestyle, or health indicators. The report closes with a consideration of future research questions for this issue.

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