Overview
Relative to scholarship focused on allosexual individuals (i.e., those that experience sexual attraction to others; Clark & Zimmerman, 2022), research on asexuality is still in its infancy. Asexuality describes a sexual identity that is largely defined by experiencing little to no sexual attraction. Specific to youth, although a large body of research has focused on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (e.g., LGBTQ+) individuals, far less work has investigated the experiences of asexual people. The small body of literature focused primarily on asexual adult populations indicates that between 0.4% and 3.3% of the (U.S. and New Zealand) population may identify as or be considered asexual (Aicken et al., 2013; Bogaert, 2004; Greaves et al., 2017; Rothblum et al., 2020). Although these findings indicate that there are millions of asexual people globally, the bulk of early research – which occurred in the 2000s – has largely been dedicated to debating...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Aicken, C. R., Mercer, C. H., & Cassell, J. A. (2013). Who reports absence of sexual attraction in Britain? Evidence from national probability surveys. Psychology & Sexuality, 4, 121–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2013.774161
Antonsen, A. N., Zdaniuk, B., Yule, M., & Brotto, L. A. (2020). Ace and aro: Understanding differences in romantic attractions among persons identifying as asexual. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 1615–1630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01600-1
Bogaert, A. F. (2004). Asexuality: Prevalence and associated factors in a national probability sample. The Journal of Sex Research, 41(3), 279–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490409552235
Bogaert, A. F. (2015). Asexuality: What it is and why it matters. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(4), 362–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2015.1015713
Caba, A. E., Mallory, A. B., Simon, K. A., Rathus, T., & Watson, R. J. (2022). Complex outness patterns among sexual minority youth: A latent class analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 746–765. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01580-x
Carrigan, M. (2015). Asexuality. In C. Richards & M. J. Barker (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of the psychology of sexuality and gender (pp. 7–23). https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137345899_2
Clark, A. N., & Zimmerman, C. (2022). Concordance between romantic orientations and sexual attitudes: Comparing allosexual and asexual adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51, 2147–2157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02194-3
Copulsky, D., & Hammack, P. L. (2021). Asexuality, graysexuality, and demisexuality: Distinctions in desire, behavior, and identity. The Journal of Sex Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.2012113
Cranney, S. (2017). Does asexuality meet the stability criterion for a sexual orientation? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 637–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-16-0887-z
Dawson, M., McDonnell, L., & Scott, S. (2016). Negotiating the boundaries of intimacy: The personal lives of asexual people. The Sociological Review, 64(2), 349–365. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12362
Dawson, M., Scott, S., & McDonnell, L. (2018). ‘“Asexual” isn’t who I am’: The politics of asexuality. Sociological Research Online, 23(2), 374–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780418757540
Decker, J. S. (2015). The invisible orientation: An introduction to asexuality. Simon and Schuster.
Foster, A. B., Eklund, A., Brewster, M. E., Walker, A. D., & Candon, E. (2019). Personal agency disavowed: Identity construction in asexual women of color. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 6(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000310
Greaves, L. M., Barlow, F. K., Huang, Y., Stronge, S., Fraser, G., & Sibley, C. G. (2017). Asexual in a New Zealand national sample: Demographics, well-being, and health. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 2417–2427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-977-6
Gressgård, R. (2013). Asexuality: From pathology to identity and beyond. Psychology & Sexuality, 4, 179–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2013.774166
Hille, J. J., Simmons, M. K., & Sanders, S. A. (2020). “Sex” and the ace spectrum: Definitions of sex, behavioral histories, and future interest for individuals who identify as asexual, graysexual, or demisexual. The Journal of Sex Research, 57(7), 813–823. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1689378
Hinderliter, A. (2013). How is asexuality different from hypoactive sexual desire disorder? Psychology & Sexuality, 4(2), 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2013.774165
Höglund, J., Jern, P., Sandnabba, N. K., & Santtila, P. (2014). Finnish women and men who self-report no sexual attraction in the past 12 months: Prevalence, relationship status, and sexual behavior history. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 879–889. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-013-0240-8
Kelleher, S., Murphy, M., & Su, X. (2022). Asexual identity development and internalization: A sco** review of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Psychology & Sexuality. Advance online publications. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2022.2057867
MacNeela, P., & Murphy, A. (2015). Freedom, invisibility, and community: A qualitative study of self-identification with asexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 799–812. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0458-0
McInroy, L. B., Beaujolais, B., Leung, V. W. Y., Craig, S. L., Eaton, A. D., & Austin, A. (2020). Comparing asexual and non-asexual sexual minority adolescents and young adults: Stressors, suicidality, and mental and behavioural health risk outcomes. Psychology & Sexuality. Advance online publication, 13, 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2020.1806103
McInroy, L. B., Beaujolais, B., Craig, S. L., & Eaton, A. D. (2021). The self-identification, LGBTQ+ identity development, and attraction and behavior of asexual youth: Potential implications for sexual health and internet-based service provision. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50, 3853–3863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02064-y
Mitchell, H., & Hunnicutt, G. (2019). Challenging accepted scripts of sexual “normality”: Asexual narratives of non-normative identity and experience. Sexuality & Culture, 23, 507–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9567-6
Mollet, A. L. (2020). “I have a lot of feelings, just none in the genitalia region”: A grounded theory of asexual college students’ identity journeys. Journal of College Student Development, 61(2), 189–206. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2020.0017
Mollet, A. L. (2021). “It’s easier just to say I’m queer”: Asexual college students’ strategic identity management. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000210
Prause, N., & Graham, C. A. (2007). Asexuality: Classification and characterization. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 341–356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9142-3
Robbins, N. K., Low, K. G., & Query, A. N. (2016). A qualitative exploration of the “coming out” process for asexual individuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 751–760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0561-x
Rothblum, E. D., Krueger, E. A., Kittle, K. R., & Meyer, I. H. (2020). Asexual and non-asexual respondents from a U.S. population-based study of sexual minorities. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 757–767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01485-0
Schudson, Z., & van Anders, S. (2019). ‘You have to coin new things’: Sexual and gender identity discourses in asexual, queer, and/or trans young people’s networked counterpublics. Psychology & Sexuality, 10(4), 354–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2019.1653957
Simon, K. A., Hawthorne, H. M., Clark, A. N., Renley, B. M., Farr, R. H., Eaton, L. A., & Watson, R. J. (2021). Contextualizing the well-being of asexual youth: Evidence of differences in family, health, and school outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01500-5
Sloan, L. J. (2015). Ace of (BDSM) clubs: Building asexual relationships through BDSM practice. Sexualities, 18(5–6), 548–563. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460714550907
The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network. (2022). AVEN. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from https://www.asexuality.org
Van Houdenhove, E., Enzlin, P., & Gijs, L. A. (2017). A positive approach toward asexuality: Some first steps, but still a long way to go. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 647–651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0921-1
Vares, T. (2021). Asexuals negotiate the ‘onslaught of the heteronormative.’. Sexualities, 25, 767–784. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460721993389
Weis, R., Hermann, L., Bauer, C., Miller, T. L., Baba, A., van der Biezen, T., Campos, A., Smiga, J. A., Tomaskovic-Moore, S., Trieu, T. H., Walfrand, A., & Ziebert, J. (2021). The 2019 asexual community survey summary report. The Ace Community Survey Team. https://asexualcensus.wordpress.com/2019-asexual-community-survey-summary-report/
Recommended Readings
Antonsen, A. N., Zdaniuk, B., Yule, M., & Brotto, L. A. (2020). Ace and aro: Understanding differences in romantic attractions among persons identifying as asexual. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 1615–1630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01600-1
Bogaert, A. F. (2015). Asexuality: What it is and why it matters. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(4), 362–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2015.1015713
Copulsky, D., & Hammack, P. L. (2021). Asexuality, graysexuality, and demisexuality: Distinctions in desire, behavior, and identity. The Journal of Sex Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.2012113
Decker, J. S. (2015). The invisible orientation: An introduction to asexuality. Simon and Schuster.
Kelleher, S., Murphy, M., & Su, X. (2022). Asexual identity development and internalization: A sco** review of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Psychology & Sexuality Advance online publications. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2022.2057867
Van Houdenhove, E., Enzlin, P., & Gijs, L. A. (2017). A positive approach toward asexuality: Some first steps, but still a long way to go. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 647–651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0921-1
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Simon, K.A., Clark, A.N., Watson, R.J. (2023). Asexual Youth. In: Levesque, R.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_824-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_824-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32132-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32132-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences