Openness to New Experiences Predicts Concordance between Bisexual or Biromantic Attraction and Bisexual Orientation

Abstract

This study sought to contravene the rigid physiological definition of sexual orientation, instead separating orientation and attraction by the psychological component of Openness, with a focus on individuals who reported having experienced bisexual attraction but did not identify as bisexual. Openness was strongly correlated with sexual orientation when comparing Bisexuals and Monosexuals, with Bisexual participants receiving a statistically insignificantly higher score than Asexual participants, but a statistically significantly higher score than Monosexual participants. When groups were formed which separated individuals who both experienced bisexual attraction and identified as bisexual (Bisexual Concordant) from participants who experienced bisexual attraction but did not identify as bisexual (Bisexual Discordant), it was found that Openness had a significant-but-mild correlation to concordance. Results appear to support the notion that Openness could be considered a lens through which bisexual attraction is coalesced into a bisexual orientation, thus achieving concordance. The main outcome of this study then is that the concordance between sexual identity and sexual attraction is not consistent, and while Openness is clearly a significant, non-biological correlate; it remains likely that other factors remain at play in the nature and formation of sexual identity, well beyond either sexual attraction or sexual orientation.