Sexual identity is more fluid than previously thought, says twelve-year study

Shutterstock/Anton Vierietin by Willi Zhang, Karolinska Institutet Nearly 16% of people changed their sexual identity over a 12-year period, according to a new study I conducted with my colleagues, involving around 35,000 residents of Stockholm County. This challenges long-held beliefs about sexual identity being largely fixed. Between 2010 and 2021, we found that 15.7% of people aged 18 and older in Stockholm experienced shifts in their sexual identity. Bisexual people had a high rate of change, with 52% reporting a shift during the study period. Within this group, 33% changed to identifying as heterosexual in 2014 or 2021 and 9% moved towards a homosexual identity. Homosexual people followed at 36%. Within this group, 26% changed to identifying as heterosexual in 2014 or 2021 and 7% shifted to a bisexual identity. Heterosexual people had a much lower rate of change at 7%. Notably, about half of those identifying as bisexual in 2021 had previously identified as heterosexual in 2010. Similar patterns have been observed internationally. In countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, studies report that between 5% and 30% of people changed their sexual identity over various time periods. These findings challenge the common belief that sexual...