A new study has shown same-sex encounters are on the rise in America indicating attitudes towards homosexuality are becoming more relaxed and accepted.

A team of researchers analyzed data from surveys taken between 1973 and 2014 which involved around 30,000 Americans. The surveys indicated people’s attitudes towards same-sex and whether they had any same-sex sexual encounters. The results showed a significant increase in the number of bi-sexual experiences between 1990 and 2014 to almost double.

According to a TIME report, the figures rose equally among men and women and didn’t seem to point to people who are exclusively gay but had experiences with both sexes – bi-sexuality had shot up 4 percent from 1990.

The results are not clear whether there is an increase in the number of same-sex encounters or if people are more relaxed in admitting to them showing care-free attitudes and acceptance levels are much higher.

“These large shifts in both attitudes and behavior occurred over just 25 years, suggesting rapid cultural change”, said Jean Twenge, author of the study and professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

The Washington Post reports that for twenty years between 1973 and 1990, the percentage of people who accepted gay sex only rose to 13 percent while “49 percent of all adults and 63 percent of millennials” saw gay sex as acceptable.

The authors expressed their surprise at the amount of bi-sexual experiences from the study as the amount of acceptance in the results is down to more experiences with both men and women – the amount of people who had exclusive same-sex experiences didn’t actually rise that much.

It may come down to the revolution in individualism that has come to rise since the 1970s – in other words, people are less inclined to fit into a societal expectation and express their individualities.

“Individualism says basically that you do what you want to do and let other people do what they want to do,” says Twenge. “People are more willing to accept behaviors they have no wish to engage in. There’s more of a sense of, you know, I need to do what’s right for me.”

The study published in The Archives of Sexual Behavior shows greatly the sign of the times and shows positive attitudes that can go further towards creating freedom, tolerance and equality in our society.