Childhood Predictors of Adult Homosexuality
According to your text, children who later become homosexual typically show more gender nonconformity—behavior more typical of the other sex along with a preference for other-sex playmates and companions. However, these reports were based on memories provided by the individuals and/or their families, and memories are often selected or even reconstructed to reflect current knowledge. Fortunately, researchers at Northwestern University were able to find a fairly large number of homosexual and heterosexual men and women who had childhood family videos. These videos were rated for gender nonconforming behavior by a large number of both homosexual and heterosexual judges who did not know the subjects' sexual preferences. The results supported previous findings, indicating that both boys and girls who were homosexual as adults were less conforming than the other subjects. The ratings were confirmed by the subjects' own reports; ratings of contemporary behavior from videos made during the study indicated that behavior continued to be nonconforming during adulthood. Developmental Psychology, Vol 44, 46-58.
Treating Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), the inherited inability to synthesize cortisol, often masculinizes the genitals and behavior of females. Often, corrective surgery is performed, but this has several drawbacks and activists oppose it, arguing that the parents should wait for the child to make a gender choice. In 90-95% of cases, CAH is due to a deficiency of 21-hydroxylase; an alternative to surgery is prenatal diagnosis and treatment with dexamethasone. A survey of the literature by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical School showed that the treatment reduces genital ambiguity and gender confusion, with minimal side effects. All mothers who were asked whether they would opt for the treatment again reported that they would. It will be interesting to see how well this form of treatment is accepted in the future. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol 1192, 5-11.
Love Modifies Olfactory Response to Other-Sex Friends
Sexual and romantic bonding among humans serves a useful function in keeping both parents around during the prolonged development of their children. One hypothesis is that it works by increasing attraction between the partners (attention hypothesis); another is that it reduces attention to non-bonded members of the other sex (deflection hypothesis). Johan Lundström and Marilyn Jones-Gotman used the well-established ability of people, especially women, to distinguish the odors of friends and family from those of strangers. The higher the women rated their romantic love for their boyfriends, the less able they were to distinguish the body odors of male friends from those of strangers; there was no effect on their ability to discriminate their boyfriends' odors; thus, the results supported the deflection hypothesis over the attention hypothesis. The researchers note that behavioral studies have supported the deflection hypothesis, while neuroimaging and neuroendocrine studies have supported the attention hypothesis; each may be correct under different circumstances or at different stages of involvement. They also suggest that rising oxytocin levels reduce binding of vasopressin to receptors and this reduces the capacity for social recognition. Hormones and Behavior, Vol 55, 280-284.