The findings provide strong evidence that sexual minority youths are more likely than their peers to think about and attempt suicide.

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Based on date from Wave 3 and Wave 4 from National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (N=12,287), known as Add Health, the majority of young adults identified their sexual orientation as 100% heterosexual. The second largest identity group,‘‘mostly heterosexual,’’was larger than all other nonheterosexual identities combined. Comparing distributions across waves, which were approximately 6 years apart, stability of sexual orientation identity wasmore common than change. Stability was greatest among men and those identifying as heterosexual. Individuals who identified as 100% homosexual reported nearly the same level of stability as 100% heterosexuals. The bisexual categorywas themost unstable, with one quarter maintaining that status at Wave 4. Bisexual men who changed their identity distributed themselves among all other categories; among bisexual women, themost common shiftwas toward mostly heterosexual. Reflecting changes in identity, the proportion of heterosexuals decreased between the two waves.

This study tracks and explains changing patterns of involvement in interracial sexual relationships during the transition to adulthood. Using a life course perspective that highlights the role of historical changes as well as age-graded changes in contexts and relationships, the authors hypothesize that involvement in interracial sexual relationships declines with increasing age among young adults. The analyses are based on some of the first nationally representative surveys to collect detailed information on sexual relationships: the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the National Health and Social Life Survey. Findings from these surveys show that individuals are decreasingly likely to be in an interracial relationship between the ages of 18 and 35 years. They also suggest that the age decline in interracial involvement is a by-product of the transition to marriage in young adulthood and the increasing formation of interracial relationships in recent years. These findings have implications for future research on interracial relationships and family formation.

Health and Social Life Survey to examine emotional satisfaction and physical pleasure from sex in intimate unions for adults in the U.S. Using perspectives from evolutionary biology and rational choice theory, we examine the effects of the following factors on emotional satisfaction and physical pleasure: time horizon expected for the relationship, sexual behavior within the relationship, and sexual exclusivity. We find a significant effect of measures for all 3 of these dimensions on emotional satisfaction with sex. For both men and women, time horizon and sexual exclusivity are more strongly tied to emotional satisfaction than they are to physical pleasure from sex, but sexual behavior has the same impact on emotional satisfaction as it does on physical pleasure.The sexual revolution of the mid-to-late 1960s marked a change in sexual practices, increasing both the amount of sexual activity outside of marriage and the number of partners people have over

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (or Add Health), a nationally representative sample of adolescents in 1994-1995, we examine if and how friendship activities differ among interracial, interethnic, and intraethnic friendships of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian youths. We find that best friends are more likely than higher-order friends to be from the same ethnic group and that best friends report more shared activities during the past week than do their higher-order friendship counterparts. Hence, we argue that shared activities is a useful indicator of friendship intimacy. In general, interracial friends report fewer shared activities than do intraracial friends, although this difference is strongest for white respondents. Moreover, we find that white, Asian, and Hispanic youths all report fewer activities with their black friends. We find little difference in friendship activities between interethnic and intraethnic friendships. Our findings suggest that, even when youths manage to break racial boundaries in friendship selection, these friendships face greater challenges than do those between individuals of the same race.In the United States individuals are most likely to marry, live near, and become friends with others who are similar to themselves. Among the social boundaries that separate adults and children, race and ethnicity are among the most formidable. Although most intimate relationships are formed with others from similar racial and ethnic backgrounds, interracial and interethnic relationships do occur. However, it is unknown whether these friendships are less intimate because of the persistence of racial and ethnic differentiation and segregation that permeates through the daily lives of individuals in the United States.The most recent figures released by the 2000 U.S. Census suggest that among the 14-to 17-year-old population approximately 36 percent were minority students1 Increasingly, Direct all correspondence to Grace Kao,