A sample of 791 college students between the ages of 18 and 25 years were administered a series of measures to determine their sexual identity development status, global self-esteem, global psychological distress, sexual-esteem and sexual distress. As hypothesized, results indicated no significant difference in terms of psychological distress, global self-esteem, sexual-esteem or sexual distress between those who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and those who identified as heterosexual. As expected, significant differences were observed among participants in relation to sexual identity development status. Specifically, those who were classified as sexual identity achieved scored higher on measures of esteem and lower on measures of distress. Notably, post hoc analyses indicated sexual distress emerged as a stable variable in explaining differences in sexual identity development status. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.