Fluidity of Sexual Orientation, Depressive Symptomology and Alcohol Consumption:A Within-Group Examination of Same-Sex Attracted Young Women Online

Sexual minority female's sexual behaviors, attractions, and identifications have been found to exhibit a large degree of fluctuation, or fluidity, over-time. This study aimed to quantify this fluidity in order to investigate it's relationships with alcohol consumption and depression. A diverse sample of 420 college-aged, same-sex attracted women were recruited from internet social networks to complete an online questionnaire that included a modified Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, the CES-D, and a measure of weekly alcohol consumption. Fluidity scores were computed by summing the absolute value differences of dimensional ratings of sexual orientation at 3 year intervals, over a 9 year period. One-way analyses of covariance, controlling for sexual abuse history and relationship status, showed that participants reporting high fluidity of sexuality both experienced and expected significantly more depressive symptoms, F(3, 414)= 3.65, p=.013, and greater alcohol consumption, F(3, 414)= 7.82, p< .001, than both the low experienced/low expected and the low experienced/high expected fluidity groups. However, neither present non-exclusive attractions nor sexual identity were significantly related to either dependent variable. The effectiveness of the novel methodology employed in collecting data from this typically hard to reach sub-group of sexual minority women is discussed.