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Developmental Issues in Lesbian and Gay Adulthood

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The Health of Sexual Minorities

Abstract

The developmental issues of adulthood for lesbians and gay men are poorly characterized compared with descriptions of adolescent development in sexual minority persons, on the one hand, and adult development in the U.S. general population, on the other hand. As Harry (1993) noted, “Coming out has little to say to adults and life seems to end at about age twenty-five with the rest of the life span left unanalyzed and unexplained” (p. 38). Yet examining the rest of the life span is likely to yield important information about how sexual minority status shapes adult experience and the ongoing revision of personal identity in the context of cumulative life history, an increasing awareness of less time remaining in life, and social and cultural norms that define what it means to be an adult (Erikson, 1959; Neugarten, 1968; Levinson, 1980; Colarusso and Nemiroff, 1981).

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Robert M. Kertzner

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  1. Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Ilan H. Meyer PhD  & Mary E. Northridge PhD, MPH  & 

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Kertzner, R.M. (2007). Developmental Issues in Lesbian and Gay Adulthood. In: Meyer, I.H., Northridge, M.E. (eds) The Health of Sexual Minorities. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_3

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