Parental Responses to Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth: Associations with Parent Support, Parental Abuse, and Youths’ Psychological Adjustment

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine parental responses to transgender and gender nonconforming [TGNC] youths’ gender identities and explore associations of parent support with parental abuse, depressive symptoms, and LGBT-identity disclosure stress. TGNC youth (N = 129), ages 15–21 (M = 18.00, SD = 1.74), completed surveys (2011–2012); experiences of transfeminine (TF; n = 58) and transmasculine (TM; n = 71) youth were analyzed separately. Among mothers of TF youth, 42.0% of initial and 45.3% of current responses were positive; among fathers, 30.0% of initial and 36.0% of current responses were positive. Among mothers of TM youth, 26.0% of initial and 53.3% of current responses were positive; among fathers, 24.0% of initial and 44.6% of current responses were positive. Among TM youth, higher levels of parental support were associated with more positive responses from mothers and fathers. Among both TF and TM youth, greater parent support was associated with less parental abuse, depressive symptoms, and LGBTQ-identity disclosure stress. Parental responses to youths’ gender identities became more positive with time for TF youth; however, approximately 50% of all TGNC youth continued to experience minority stress related to parent rejection. Limitations and implications for practice and research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender
• gender nonconforming
• transfeminine
• transmasculine
• youth
• parents
• parent support
• parental abuse
• depression
• stress

Additional information

Funding

This study uses data from “Risk and Protective Factors for Suicide among Sexual Minority Youth,” grant R01MH091212 from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of NIMH or the Institutes of Health.