How to Measure Sexual Orientation Range and Why It's Worth Measuring

Abstract

First proposed by Epstein, McKinney, Fox, and Garcia (2012), sexual orientation range (SOR) is an objective continuous measure of the flexibility people have in expressing their sexual orientation. In the present article, three formulas for computing SOR are compared using data obtained from a sample of 54,834 people in 57 countries. A number of statistical measures suggest that SOR is best measured simply as the smaller of two raw scores indicating opposite-sex and same-sex sexual inclinations. In other words, if one's strongest inclinations are same-sex, one's sexual orientation range is best indicated by the strength of one's opposite-sex inclinations, and vice versa. SOR, in combination with mean sexual orientation, another continuous variable, provides a reasonable and useful characterization of sexual orientation, which is and always has been a continuous rather than a categorical phenomenon. The SOR concept also puts the rancorous “choice” debate into an objective, non-inflammatory context.

KEYWORDS:

• sexual flexibility
• sexual orientation range
• SOR
• sexual choice
• Epstein Sexual Orientation Inventory
• sexual orientation continuum
• sexual orientation
• ESOI

Notes

¹Because scores on the ESOI are based on yes/no and multiple-choice answers—in other words, numbers on ordinal scales—nonparametric statistics such as Spearman's rho, the Mann-Whitney U, and the Kruskal-Wallis H are used throughout this article instead of statistics such as the t test and Pearson's r, which are more suitable for use with numbers on ratio scales. Three asterisks denote statistical significance at the 0.001 level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert Epstein

Robert Epstein, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji) and senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (Vista, CA). He has published 15 books and more than 200 articles on various topics in psychology. A PhD of Harvard University, he is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.

Ronald E. Robertson

Ronald E. Robertson, BA, is assistant director of the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and a recent graduate of the University of California, San Diego.