Search Here

The number of men and women identifying themselves as bisexual is rising steeply, say the results of a survey released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One part of the National Survey of Family Growth the survey interviewed 9,175 males and females from 18 to 44 years from 2011 to 2013.

The information was collected through a computer into which respondents entered answers, ie through the audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) method.

"In ACASI, the respondent listens to the questions through headphones, reads them on the screen, or both, and enters the response directly into the computer," the study authors wrote."This method avoids asking the respondent to give his or her answers to the interviewer, and it has been found to yield complete reporting of sensitive behaviors."

The results showed that 6.2 percent of the males said that they had same-sex contact, even as 17.4 percent of the women gave the same response. About 92.1 percent of the men explained that they preferred the opposite sex compared to 81 percent of the women.

"With regard to sexual orientation, 95.1 percent of the men and 92.3 percent of the women identified themselves as heterosexual or straight; 5.5 percent of the women and 2 percent of the men said they were bisexual; 1.9 percent of the men and 1.3 percent of the women said they were homosexual, lesbian or gay; and 1 percent of the men and 0.9 percent of the women were either uncertain or refused to disclose information," according to HNGN.

"Sexual attraction and sexual orientation correlate closely, but not completely, with reports of sexual behavior," the authors concluded.