June 27, 2006
Having Older Brothers Increases a Man's Odds of Being Gay
From Scientific American:
The number of biological older brothers a boy's mother has carried--whether they live with him in the same household or not--affects his chances of being gay. The findings, reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by Anthony Bogaert of Brock University, lend credence to the theory that it's not the social or rearing factors that influence a man's sexual orientation, but rather prenatal mechanisms that begin in the womb.
The idea that prenatal mechanisms may influence sexual orientation has been around for a couple of decades. In 1996, Bogaert along with colleague Ray Blanchard correlated sexual orientation in men with the number of older brothers, but it wasn't clear if that influence was occurring because the boys shared the same household or because they had shared the same womb.
More here.
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Comments
Color me surprised.
Posted by: Bruce | Jun 27, 2006 8:09:26 AM
"Color me surprised."
Well, given the 1996 findings, I certainly would have expected a biological rather than familial cause. Various identical twin studies have already demonstrated that familial effects are very weak. Or see 'The Nurture Assumption'.
Posted by: Slocum | Jun 27, 2006 11:36:52 AM
I should have included a sarcasm tag, I see.
Certainly would have been surprised to find anything post-partum as a determinant of orientation.
Posted by: Bruce | Jun 27, 2006 11:48:32 AM
"I should have included a sarcasm tag, I see."
Ah, sorry, "Color me surprised" isn't one of those expressions where my default interpretation is sarcasm (unlike, say, "Well that's a shock").
Posted by: Slocum | Jun 27, 2006 5:54:20 PM
No Problem - in retrospect, my post was too short...
Posted by: Bruce | Jun 28, 2006 8:22:07 AM
I don't think older brothers is a factor influencing people that are gay. There is always evidence to suggest one way or another but you can never get the right sample data.
Posted by: Naomi | May 14, 2013 5:23:47 PM
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