Sampling gay men

Abstract

In most studies of male homosexuals, there are sampling deficiencies that relate to subject age and sample sources. Data gathered in 1969 on 686 male homosexuals show that those who came out early differ on a number of important variables from those who came out later. Samples of young gays are thus likely to be unrepresentative of the total male homosexual population. Also, all extant samples of gay men appear to under‐represent those over 45 years of age. When respondents from a variety of sample sources were compared, it was found that those obtained through advertising in the general media differ considerably from those obtained through gay‐world sources in the degree of their social involvement in the gay world. Respondents acquired through the general media may constitute a broader representation of the homosexual population than those acquired from the social structures of the gay world.