Children with Trans Parents: Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Psychological Well-being

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant family structure, family formation method, and country of residence

	No. of Families (N = 35)
Family members participating
1 trans parent	14
1 trans parent, 1 child	5
1 trans parent, 1 cis parent, 1 child	5
1 trans parent, 1 cis parent	4
1 trans parent, 1 cis parent, 2 children	3
2 trans parents, 2 children	2
1 trans parent, 2 children	1
1 trans parent, 1 cis parent, 3 children	1
Parenting arrangement for target child
Child living with both legal parents	16
Shared parenting: shared equally between two households	4
Shared parenting: child mainly with trans parent	6
Shared parenting: child mainly with other parent	8
Child living with partner	1
Family formation
Unassisted conception	26
Assisted reproductive technologies	5
Adoption	3
Long-term foster care	1
Country of residence
England	26
Scotland	3
Wales	3
United States	2
Ireland	1

Table 2. Participant self-identified gender identity and demographic information

	Trans Parents (n = 37)	Cis Parents (n = 13)	Children (n = 25)
Gender identity
Trans woman	13	0	0
Female	6	8	9
Trans man	4	0	0
Nonbinary/nonbinary trans	3	0	1
Female/trans female	2	0	0
Genderfluid	1	0	1
Genderqueer	1	0	1
Agender	1	0	0
Transsexual	1	0	0
Trans woman/nonbinary	1	0	0
Male to female	1	0	0
Trans/gender nonconforming	1	0	0
Woman with a trans history	1	0	0
Male	1	3	13
Cisgender female	0	2	0
Ethnicity
White British	27	12
White Irish	2	0
Other White background	6	1
Education
Higher education	16	11
School education	16	2

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for measures of quality of parenting, parent–child relationship quality, and psychological well-being

	Trans Parents (n = 34)		Cis Parents (n = 12)		Children (n = 25)		Teachers (n = 11)
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Beck Depression Inventory-II	12.74	11.02	7.92	6.23
Parenting Stress Index (short-form)	69.91	18.65	69.58	14.54
Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support	5.24	1.39	5.74	1.23
Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure
Discrimination	1.84	1.27
Rejection	2.44	1.44
Non-affirmation	11.25	7.20
Pride	19.16	8.08
Community connectedness	13.56	4.23
	Trans Parents (n = 35)		Cis Parents (n = 11)
	M	SD	M	SD
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire	9.03	4.57					6.09	4.89
Positive parenting	.08	.97	−.15	.93
Negative parenting	−.06	.94	.28	.52
Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire
Parent rating for childª	30.75	5.75	31.13	6.88
Child rating for trans parent					32.60	6.92
Child rating for other parent^b					30.71	5.99
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale^c					19.06	6.30

ª Trans parents n = 28, cis parents n = 8

^bn = 21

^cn = 18

Table 4. Sample correlations

	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.	11.	12.	13.
1. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire	-
2. Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire	.21	-
3. Parenting Stress Index	.44*	.40*	-
4. Beck Depression Inventory-ii	.45**	.17	.52**	-
5. Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support	−.36*	−.03	−.41*	−.58***	-
6. Positive parenting	−.01	−.53**	−.26	−.34*	−.03	-
7. Negative parenting	.10	.57**	.52**	.33	−.03	−.53**	-
8. Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale: discrimination	−.04	.07	.23	.29	−.03	−.18	.18	-
9. Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale: rejection	.09	−.30	.05	.22	−.05	.02	−.05	.52**	-
10. Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale: non-affirmation	.18	.13	.41*	.20	−.43*	.04	.02	.08	−.02	-
11. Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure: pride	−.12	−.29	−.16	.35	.06	.22	.01	−.03	.28	−.05	-
12. Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale: community connectedness	.02	−.21	−.14	.05	−.23	.04	−.04	.06	.19	−.12	.28	-
13. Time since parental communication of gender identity to child	−.05	−.19	−.28	.01	.31	.19	−.17	.33	.05	−.48*	−.31	−.23	-
14. Child age at parental communication of gender identity	−.13	.08	.12	−.02	−.09	−.22	−.01	−.42*	−.03	.26	−.06	.03	−.62**

* p <.05. ** p <.01. *** p <.001.

Table 5. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting parent–child relationship quality

Step	Variable	B	SE B	ß
1.	Parenting stress	.120	.053	.403
2.	Parenting stress	.093	.048	.311
	Positive parenting	−2.728	.936	−.470*

Note. R2 =.133 for Step 1: ΔR2 =.212 for Step 2 (p =.01)

* p <.05

Table 6. Multiple regression analysis predicting child adjustment (SDQ total difficulties)

Step	Variable	B	SE B	ß
1.	Parenting stress	.066	.047	.262
	Depression	.104	.087	.250
	Perceived social support	−.361	.654	−.109

Note. R2 =.265