Table 1.
Characteristics of respondents in the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) by gender and sexual orientation
| Characteristic | Men
|
Women
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual (wt n = 1242) | Gay/bisexual (wt n = 37) | Heterosexual (wt n = 1607) | Lesbian/bisexual (wt n = 37) | |
| Age (years) | ||||
| 25–34 | 24.4 | 34.8 | 27.4 | 53.0 |
| 35–44 | 30.2 | 38.6 | 25.8 | 28.5 |
| 45–54 | 21.0 | 16.4 | 18.1 | 11.1 |
| 55–74 | 24.4 | 10.2 | 28.7 | 7.4 |
| p = .07 | p = .003 | |||
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 82.4 | 87.7 | 81.9 | 82.5 |
| Other | 17.6 | 12.3 | 18.1 | 17.5 |
| p = .43 | p = .85 | |||
| Education | ||||
| Some high school | 14.2 | 25.8 | 14.4 | 15.6 |
| High school degree | 33.9 | 16.4 | 38.6 | 35.4 |
| Some college | 24.1 | 25.7 | 26.9 | 31.7 |
| College degree | 27.8 | 32.1 | 20.1 | 17.3 |
| p = .18 | p = .84 | |||
| Maternal education | ||||
| High school degree | 65.4 | 83.3 | 58.1 | 77.8 |
| No high school degree | 34.6 | 16.7 | 41.9 | 22.2 |
| p = .32 | p = .44 | |||
| Paternal education | ||||
| High school degree | 57.8 | 61.4 | 56.2 | 74.0 |
| No high school degree | 42.2 | 38.6 | 43.8 | 26.0 |
| p = .36 | p = .78 | |||
| Personal annual income | ||||
| <US $20,000 | 34.1 | 40.6 | 69.3 | 56.5 |
| US $20,000 or more | 65.9 | 59.4 | 30.7 | 43.5 |
| p = .26 | p = .04 | |||
Note: Actual sample size is 1382 heterosexual men, 1462 heterosexual women, 41 gay or bisexual men, and 32 lesbian or bisexual women. Weighted estimates shown. Differences estimated from logistic regression modeling evaluating the probability of minority sexual orientation from all demographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, education, parental education, and personal income) simultaneously.