Sexual Orientation and Vocational Interests Across 48 Countries: The Moderating Effect of Cultural Tightness-Looseness

Vocational interests are an important factor in individuals’ career choice and development. However, current understanding about the vocational interests of sexual minorities is underdeveloped. Using data from 31,348 men and 59,715 women (N = 91,063) from 48 countries who self-identified as heterosexual, gay/lesbian, bisexual, or asexual, this study used a fine-grained approach to investigating the relationship of sexual orientation to Holland’s realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional interests, separately by gender. Across these countries, we also explored how the strength of social norms — that is, cultural tightness/looseness — moderates this relationship. Results indicated generally small sexual orientation differences in realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional interests within women and within men. On average, the interests of sexual minorities tend to be less gender-typical, but more investigative and artistic, than those of heterosexual people. Multilevel analyses show that cultural tightness-looseness moderated sexual orientation differences in realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional interests, such that some of these differences are smaller (larger) in tight (loose) cultures. This implies that tight cultures that have strong norms might constrain sexual minorities’ vocational interests, whereas loose cultures that have weak norms offer greater latitude for them to pursue different interests. Altogether, this study advances our collective understanding of sexual minorities’ vocational interests and highlights the role of the cultural context in shaping their career choices and development. Implications for counseling and career development of sexual minority clients are discussed.