Homosexuality and psychology
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Psychology was one of the first disciplines to study homosexuality as a discrete phenomenon. In the late 19th and throughout most of the 20th centuries, pathological models of homosexuality were standard. On December 15, 1973, the American Psychiatric Association, removed homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders. The American Psychological Association Council of Representatives adopted the same measure on January 24-26, 1975.
Major psychological research on homosexuality can be divided into five categories:
- Which factors cause people to be attracted to their own sex?
- What are the causes of discrimination against gays and lesbians and how can this be influenced?
- Does being gay or lesbian affect one's health status, psychological functioning or general well-being?
- What determines successful adaptation to a rejecting social climate in gays and lesbians? Why is homosexuality central to the identity of some gays and lesbians, but peripheral to the identity of others?
- How do children of lesbian and gay parents develop?
Psychological research in these areas has been important to counteracting prejudicial ("homophobic") attitudes and actions, and to the gay and lesbian rights movement generally.
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