Young Trans Children Know Who They Are

Young Trans Children Know Who They Are: A new study shows that gender-nonconforming kids who go on to transition already have a strong sense of their true identity—one that differs from their assigned gender.

Published in: The Atlantic. January 15, 2019. Author: Ed Yong

“This study provides further credence to guidance that practitioners and other professionals should affirm—rather than question—a child’s assertion of their gender, particularly for those who more strongly identify with their gender,” says Russell Toomey from the University of Arizona, who studies LGBTQ youth and is himself transgender…”

““When the 85 gender-nonconforming children first enrolled in Olson’s study, her team administered a series of five tests that asked what toys and clothes they preferred; whether they preferred hanging out with girls or boys; how similar they felt to girls or boys; and which genders they felt they currently were or would be. Together, these markers of identity gave the team a way to quantify each kid’s sense of gender.”

“The team, including James Rae, now at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, found that children who showed stronger gender nonconformity at this point were more likely to socially transition. So, for example, assigned boys who had the most extreme feminine identities were most likely to be living as girls two years later. This link couldn’t be explained by other factors, such as how liberal the children’s parents were. Instead, the children’s gender identity predicted their social transitions. “I think this wouldn’t surprise parents of trans kids, and my findings are often ‘duh’ findings for them,” says Olson. “It seems pretty intuitive.””

“…“The findings of this compelling study provide further evidence that decisions to socially transition are driven by a child’s understanding of their own gender,” says Toomey. “This is critically important information given that recent public debates and flawed empirical studies erroneously implicate ‘pushy’ parents, peers, or other sources, like social media, in the rising prevalence of children and adolescents who identify as transgender.””

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/young-trans-children-know-who-they-are/580366/

Chosen Name Use Is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicidal Behavior Among Transgender Youth

Even something as “simple” as using a trans youth’s chosen/preferred/self-identified name can be a very powerful intervention with clear positive outcomes. And don’t we want our youth to have less depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation?

Published in: Journal of Adolescent Health. October, 2018. Authors: Stephen T. Russell, Amanda M. Pollitt, Gu Li, Arnold H. Grossman.

“Transgender youth whose gender expression and names do not appear to match may be vulnerable to unintended disclosure or “outing,” and to discrimination or victimization, factors that could lead to mental health problems [1]. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relation between chosen name use, as a proxy for youths' gender affirmation in various contexts, and mental health among transgender youth.”

“We asked transgender youth whether they had a preferred name different from the name they were given at birth, and, if yes, asked, ‘are you able to go by your preferred name’ at home (n = 54), at school (n = 57), at work (n = 50), or with friends (n=69).”

“…chosen name use in more contexts predicted fewer depressive symptoms and less suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior. An increase by one context in which a chosen name could be used predicted a 5.37-unit decrease in depressive symptoms, a 29% decrease in suicidal ideation, and a 56% decrease in suicidal behavior. We observed similar results when we individually tested specific contexts for chosen name use (except that chosen name use with friends did not significantly predict mental health after adjusting for demographics and close friend support). Depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior were at the lowest levels when chosen names could be used in all four contexts.”

https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(18)30085-5/fulltext

Suicide risk in the UK Trans population and the role of gender transition in decreasing suicidal ideation and suicide attempt

Published in: Mental Health Review Journal. · December 2014.  Authors: Louis Bailey, Jay McNeil, Sonja J. Ellis.

“The findings reported here indicate that there are extremely high rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt within this non-random sample of the UK trans population. However, gender transition – for those that wanted it – was shown to drastically reduce instances of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt, highlighting the important role played by social transition and gender reassignment in improving quality of life and overall well-being amongst respondents…”

“A key finding to emerge from the study was the importance of timely access to gender reassignment treatment for those who required it. Transition was shown to have a positive impact on trans people’s mental health and well-being; the processes of gender reassignment and social transition serving to significantly reduce rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. The majority of participants cited the significant benefits of gender reassignment in terms of aligning their physical body with their internal sense of self, and the knock-on effects of being recognised as the gender that they felt themselves to be…”

“Despite the clear advantages of gender reassignment, some respondents reported significant issues whilst trying to obtain treatment. As has been reported elsewhere, funding delays or refusals were common within this sample and respondents alluded to having gender reassignment treatment stopped or postponed altogether. These issues may, in some cases, contribute to suicide risk within this population…”

“It is crucial that those experiencing gender dysphoria have access to gender reassignment treatment with minimal delays or disruption and that they receive relevant information and support both from medical professionals as well as more informal sources – such as family, friends and support organisations – in order to build resilience and bolster health and well-being during this particularly difficult time.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281441727

Recognising the needs of gender variant children and their parents

Recognising the needs of gender variant children and their parents

Published in: Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning.  2013.  Authors: Elizabeth A. Riley, Gomathi Sitharthan, Lindy Clemson & Milton Diamond

“The data in the present study suggest that even when gender-variant children actively endeavour to conform, their efforts are often thwarted by individuals who seek to marginalise and victimise them for their difference. Children therefore suffer from an invisibility and lack of recognition of their needs, on the one hand, and (in some cases) a violation of their personal boundaries that can foster a general anxiety, on the other. The well-documented need of all children for acceptance and affirmation places even more responsibility on adults to be compassionate and make provisions for gender-variant children.” 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2013.796287

Suicide risk in the UK trans population and the role of gender transition in decreasing suicidal ideation and suicide attempt

It is well known that trans and gender nonbinary people have high rates of suicidality… studies consistently show that affirming treatments decrease risk.

Published in: Mental Health Review Journal.  December 2014.  Authors: Louis Bailey, Sonja J. Ellis, Jay McNeil.

“A supportive environment for social transition and timely access to gender reassignment, for those who required it, emerged as key protective factors… The paper highlights the devastating impact that delaying or denying gender reassignment treatment can have and urges commissioners and practitioners to prioritisetimely intervention and support.”

“The findings reported here indicate that there are extremely high rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt within this non-random sample of the UK trans population. However, gender transition – for those that wanted it – was shown to drastically reduce instances of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt, highlighting the important role played by social transition and gender reassignment in improving quality of life and overall well-being amongst respondents…”

“A key finding to emerge from the study was the importance of timely access to gender reassignment treatment for those who required it. Transition was shown to have a positive impact on trans people’s mental health and well-being; the processes of gender reassignment and social transition serving to significantly reduce rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. The majority of participants cited the significant benefits of gender reassignment in terms of aligning their physical body with their internal sense of self, and the knock-on effects of being recognised as the gender that they felt themselves to be…”

“Despite the clear advantages of gender reassignment, some respondents reported significant issues whilst trying to obtain treatment. As has been reported elsewhere, funding delays or refusals were common within this sample and respondents alluded to having gender reassignment treatment stopped or postponed altogether. These issues may, in some cases, contribute to suicide risk within this population…”

“It is crucial that those experiencing gender dysphoria have access to gender reassignment treatment with minimal delays or disruption and that they receive relevant information and support both from medical professionals as well as more informal sources – such as family, friends and support organisations – in order to build resilience and bolster health and well-being during this particularly difficult time.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281441727_Suicide_risk_in_the_UK_Trans_population_and_the_role_of_gender_transition_in_decreasing_suicidal_ideation_and_suicide_attempt

The Needs of Gender-Variant Children and Their Parents According to Health Professionals

Another article outlining that more supportive, nurturing, and affirming perspectives on a youth’s self-reported gender identity are needed to support both the youth and their parents.

Published in: International Journal of Transgenderism.  March 4, 2013.  Authors: Elizabeth Anne Riley, Gomathi Sitharthan, Lindy Clemson & Milton Diamond

“The issues that gender-variant children face highlight consistent deficits and negativity in the children’s lives and focus our attention to the extraordinary burden placed on gender-variant children in their formative years. A report by Grant et al. (2010) describes in detail the extraordinary levels of harassment, physical assault, and sexual violence experienced by transgender children in years during primary and high school. These issues, if unable to be alleviated, are likely to present ongoing and accumulative difficulties that then impact their lives as adults.”

“… The needs of parents overwhelmingly feature the various types of support that would help parents become informed, be able to cope, and make the best decisions for their child. Societal and community support appear to be crucial factors for parents to comfortably engage with the tasks required of them to support their child.”

“… The needs of gender-variant children identified from the professionals’ responses revealed a lack of respect for the rights of children who experience gender variance. The most frequently mentioned needs were to be accepted and supported; to be heard, respected, and loved; to have professional support and recognition; to be allowed to express their gender; to feel safe and protected; to live a normal life; to have peer contact; to have school support and; to have access to puberty-delaying hormones. The needs of the parents focused primarily on areas of support and professional assistance, namely, the need for emotional support and guidance; education and information; support from society, local community, friends, and family; competent knowledgeable professionals; diagnosis, treatment, and beneficial outcomes for their children; peer support; support, understanding, and acceptance from schools; and research.”

“Together, these findings call for education programs to provide knowledge and exposure to the issues that transgender people face, across such sectors as medicine, mental health, and teaching in schools. The targeted education of medical and counseling professionals, the inclusion of printed materials in doctors’ surgeries, and the distribution of best practice guidelines and training in schools would signal a major change across the professional and community sectors that the needs of transgender children are being taken seriously.”

http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/2010to2014/2011-needs-of-gender-variant-children.html

Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults: Low Cost Strategies for Positive Adjustment

A study demonstrating that family support is essential in the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth.

Published in: Family Relations.  July, 2015.  Authors: Shannon D. Snapp, Ryan J. Watson, Stephen T. Russell, Rafael M. Diaz, Caitlin Ryan.

“Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that family support, both general and sexuality specific, is a crucial factor in LGBT youth’s health and well-being…”

“Two variables were most relevant in predicting adjustment: (a) the percentage of friends who knew about participants’ sexual or gender identity and (b) support related to being LGBT from friends. The presence of a network of friends to whom youth can be out has been linked to measures of health and well-being…”

“Although friendship support is clearly associated with positive well-being in young adulthood, it appears that family acceptance has a stronger overall influence when other forms of support are considered jointly.”

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01612840.2017.1398283

Stigma, Mental Health, and Resilience in an Online Sample of the US Transgender Population

Family and peer support, key components of affirmative approaches for gender variant youth, are all protective factors. This study also clearly refutes the notion among some proponents of "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" that disaffirming approaches and limiting access to peers is beneficial. 

Published in: American Journal of Public Health.  May, 2013. Authors: Walter O. Bockting, PhD, Michael H. Miner, PhD, Rebecca E. Swinburne Romine, PhD, Autumn Hamilton, HSD, and Eli Coleman, PhD.

 “… family support, peer support, and identity pride all were negatively associated with psychological distress, confirming that these assets are protective factors. Moreover, peer support significantly moderated the relationship between enacted stigma and psychological distress, thus emerging as a demonstrated factor of resilience in the face of actual experiences of discrimination. Only at high (but not low or medium) levels of peer support was enacted stigma not associated with psychological distress, which suggests that the negative impact of enacted stigma on mental health is pervasive and that regular contact with peers is necessary to ameliorate it.”

“Together, these results offer support for the value of transgender individuals connecting with similar others, possibly providing the opportunity to question stigma from the majority culture and reappraise their experiences in a self-affirmative way, which is consistent with what has been postulated and observed among gay and lesbian individuals. This finding is particularly pertinent because previous research found that transgender people have higher levels of depression and lower levels of peer and family support than their gay, lesbian, and bisexual counterparts. These results support a need to promote resilience by facilitating ample peer support.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698807/

Surviving a Gender Variant Childhood: The Views of Transgender Adults on the Needs of Gender Variant Children and Their Parents

Published in: Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy. 2012. Authors: Elizabeth Anne Riley, Lindy Clemson, Gomathi Sitharthan, Milton Diamond.

“… the needs of children that emerged were most notably, for parents, school staff and other authority figures to be educated so that children do not need to ‘hide’ themselves and their gender expression for fear of adversity. The participants also expressed their need as children to be able to speak about their feelings, to have their gender expression accepted, to be recognised, to be protected, to be given the opportunity to know others with similar feelings and for their parents to be open-minded, able and willing to accept their gender variant children. This study identified that the participants’ parents primarily needed access to information and educated professionals, particularly in schools, counselling and medical contexts. Exposure to successful transgender people and access to parent support groups was also seen as a need to help parents become more accepting of their children's diversity. The need for family and wider support was mentioned as a need for both the gender variant children and the parents as some participants felt that even though support of their parents was necessary, it was not enough for them to live happily and safely within the broader society.”

“The need for ‘health literacy’ was highlighted as tool to empower individuals, in this case, parents, to respond effectively in addressing the issues with regard to their gender variant children. In particular, allowing confidence to approach professionals for support with their own and their child's emotional, physical and social well-being….”

“… it appears that living in a society where punishment is customary for lack of conformity to gender stereotypes creates a lifelong struggle and sometimes ‘withdrawal’ that caused some participants great distress and impacts on their self-esteem and ability to thrive.”

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Surviving-a-gender-variant-childhood%3A-the-views-of-Riley-Clemson/20d1168cecafe4aa6c633e4691b60e88ed31c901

Demographic and Psychosocial Factors Associated With Psychological Distress and Resilience Among Transgender Individuals

Published in: The American Journal of Public Health. October, 2015. Authors: Emily Bariola, BA, Anthony Lyons, PhD, William Leonard, BSc, BA, Marian Pitts, PhD, Paul Badcock, PhD, and Murray Couch, BA.

“The findings indicated that, relative to other sources, family of origin may have the most influence in protecting against psychological distress… our findings support a need to encourage family members to be open and receptive sources of support.”

“…frequent contact with LGBT peers was revealed as a significant [protective] factor… for transgender individuals, frequent peer contact may be particularly important for developing individual resilience, as gender transitioning can be a complex and challenging process and having peers who share similar experiences may provide not only a sense of support and understanding, but also a sense of belonging.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566567/

Why Parents of Trans Kids Are A Special Kind of Tired

Not research, but a really lovely piece on being a parent to a trans or nonbinary youth. Hopefully this helps some of the parents who might need some support.

Why Parents of Trans Kids Are A Special Kind of Tired

Yes. All parents walking the earth are tired.

We are all absolutely in solidarity with that fact.

We could all use about a week on a deserted island without any children, technology, or responsibilities of any kind.

But I feel the need to tell you about the special kind of tired that parents of transgender kids are experiencing.

It’s different than most versions of tired.

And this isn’t to “one-up”. And this certainly isn’t to take away from an LGBTQIA child themselves, their own struggles and hardships. This isn’t to take away from, or distract from… anyone.

This isn’t a competition.

This is just to simply explain and shed light on how we’re feeling, since it’s of my belief that we, the parents of trans youth, are living in our own marginalized community.

Read the rest:

https://vanessaleenic.com/2018/09/21/why-parents-of-trans-kids-are-a-special-kind-of-tired/

Trans Youth: Digging Beneath the Surface: Factors That Facilitate Or Impede Trans Youth Well-being in Quebec

“Quebec has one of the leading identity-affirming clinics for trans kids, the Gender Variance Clinic of the Mon- treal Children’s Hospital. This fact sheet aims at presenting oppressive factors and structures that negatively influence the well-being of trans youth as well as aspects that contribute to it…”

• “Experiences and Dynamics in the Healthcare System: Healthcare system is a primary contributor to participants’ well-being (gender specific or general care), yet, resources in this system are not trans affirmative. Indeed, because of their gender identity, even when the services they are seeking are not transition-related, barriers to access and fear of negative treatment from healthcare professionals are an issue…”

• “Other Institutional Spaces: Schools, Child Protection Services, Justice System - Participants feel that those institutions are positive in their lives as long as they are affirming of their identity…”

• “Family relations and Other Social circles: Family support, in the form of feeling loved, accepted, and supported by immediate and extended family, is a significant resource to help participants cope with difficulties in other spheres of their lives. However, family can also be a source of fear and anxiety (when being rejected, or kicked out). Explicit lack of parental support is detrimental to participants’ well-being…” 

• “Community spaces: Trans youth identified trans and LGBTQ+ non-governmental organizations (NGOs), support agencies, and other community spaces as an important source of support and information (student unions for example). Online spaces (social medias and web) were also identified as important to affirm their identity…”

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/8547e446-90ba-4bfb-9351-591f088e59a1/downloads/1cnmpjs2e_3073.pdf

Family Rejection as a Predictor of Suicide Attempts and Substance Misuse Among Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Adults

Published in: LGBT Health. May 25, 2016. Authors: Augustus Klein and Sarit Golub.

"42.3% of [transgender adults] reported a suicide attempt and 26.3% reported misusing drugs or alcohol to cope with transgender-related discrimination… family rejection was associated with increased odds of both behaviors. Odds increased significantly with increasing levels of family rejection."

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/lgbt.2015.0111?journalCode=lgbt

Gender nonconforming youth: current perspectives

"The gender affirmative model is defined as a method of therapeutic care that includes allowing children to speak for themselves about their self-experienced gender identity and expressions and providing support for them to evolve into their authentic gender selves, no matter at what age.”

Published in: Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics. 2017. Author: Diane Ehrensaft.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5448699/