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Sexual Development


  • Friends & Lovers: Male Sexual Development: Descriptive, longitudinal study of the peer relations, friendships, and sexual milestones, events, memories, attractions, and behaviors of young men (18-25 years old) from childhood through young adulthood. This is a study of young men of all sexualities, orientations, and identities.  Current Status: Funding secured, IRB approved, instruments finalized, data collection is on-going (N=160), please volunteer by contacting savin-williams@cornell.edu.


  • The Oswego Project on Adolescent Flourishing: In collaboration with Professor Andrew Smiler at SUNY Oswego, a longitudinal study of 500 upstate New York residents to determine how peer relations, the media, and gender attitudes influence the development of flourishing.  Current Status: Funding secured, IRB approved, instruments finalized, data collected, and data analyses underway.

     

  • Add Health Study Predicting Suicidality: Using the first three waves of the Add Health data set with adolescents and young adults, assess various levels of mental health status (suicidality) among sexual groupings, including within same-sex attracted populations.  Current Status: Revisions underway.

    • Gender & Identity

    • Decision to transition study: Does identity affect risk perception in surgical decision making? This empirical study examines the risk perception and rationality involved in the decision to medically transition across gender groups. Current Status: Approved by Cornell University IRB; Study recruitment open.

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    • Growing up Transgender: Pathways to resilience. Too often, transgender youth are left to face obstacles without the supports that foster both safety and healthy development. Adults may be unsure of how to respond to gender nonconformity, and how to help trans youth participate in society authentically and safely. This project in collaboration with ACT for Youth Center for Excellence at the Family Life Development Center, Cornell University, aims to build resources for those working with transgender youth. The most recent publication provides an introduction to the pressures trans youth face each day, and suggests ways to create environments that encourage resilience for trans youth. Part one in the series (Pardo, March 2008) examined transgender identity development and discussed a model that posits gender variability as healthy and natural.

      Citation: Pardo, S. T. & Schantz, K. (2008, September). Growing Up Transgender: Safety and Resilience. ACT for (Trans) Youth Part 2. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

      Citation: Pardo, T. (2008, March). Growing Up Transgender: Research and Theory. ACT for (Trans) Youth Part 1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

    • Transgender identity development study: An exploratory study of identity conceptualization and development in a sample of transgender and gender nonconforming biological females. Current Status: Analysis complete; poster presented at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit; manuscript preparation.

      Citation: Pardo, T. (2007, January). Multiple identities: Conceptualizations of gender in gender-variant natal females. Poster presented at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit (NMCS), Seattle, WA.

    Sex & Sexual Well-Being

    • Couchsurfing, safety and sexuality. Couchsurfing is an unconventional way of low-budget travelling around the world, largely supported by two international web-sites, www.couchsurfing.com and www.hospitalityclub.org, where members host other members at their homes for no charge. This on-line study explores couchsurfers' experiences and feelings regarding safety and sexuality while hosting or being a guest. Current status: Data collection in progress since March 2008. If you are a couchsurfer and would like to participate, please contact me for the link to the survey.

     

    • Sexual morality. This is a line of research that will explore the way people think and feel about morality in the sexual domain. ich sexual behaviors do we find morally wrong? What do we base our decisions on? Can we change these judgments and intuitions, and if yes, how? Current status: Study 1 completed - see our list of sexual acts people today might find immoral. Awaiting IRB approval for the upcoming studies.

     

    • Casual sex study. Using large-scale web-based surveys,  longitudinal design, and in-depth interviews, we will be tracking developmental transformations in individual’s sexual trajectories. In particular, we will explore how the link between casual sex and well-being changes over time. Current Status: Poster presented at the International Association for Sex Research; first wave of data collection completed; IRB approved.

    Citation: Vrangalova, S. & Savin-Williams, R. (2007, August). Sex without Love: Motivations for and against. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Vancouver, CA.

     

    • Heterosexual sexual orientations and attractions study. Many people who identify as heterosexual nonetheless experience some level of same-sex desires and fantasies. How prevalent is this among college students? How are such people different from those heterosexually-identified without any same-sex interests, and does gender and the level of same-sex sexuality matter?
      Current Status: Data collection completed; Poster presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; manuscript in press Journal of Sex Research.

    Citation: Vrangalova, S. & Savin-Williams, R. (2007, November). How straight are straight people exactly? Poster presented at the 50th Annual Conference of the Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality, Indianapolis, IN.

    © 2008 Department of Human Development, Cornell University

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