A Longitudinal Investigation of Trans and Nonbinary Youth Identity: Individual Processes and Family Agreement in the Trans Teen and Family Narratives Project

Abstract

Few studies have focused on transgender and nonbinary youths’ (TNBY) gender development and even less well understood is how family members understand TNBY identity. The current study investigated: (a) how TNBY describe their gender identity over time, and (b) how family members understand TNBY gender identity over time. The baseline sample included 96 members of 33 families (33 TNBY, 48 cisgender caregivers, 15 siblings) from the United States; 30 families continued after Wave 1. Results indicated that 23 (77.7%) youth’s gender identity labels remained the same throughout all five waves, with seven (23.3%) youth shifting their description more than once—all youth continuing after Wave 1 who reported shifts, shifted from one TNB identity to another TNB identity. Family agreement varied across waves amongst family members regarding gender identity, gender expression, and pronoun use. Agreement and partial agreement were primarily in the High and Moderate categories across domains, with the pronouns domain demonstrating the highest level of agreement across pairings. Disagreement amongst pairings was usually not present or coded as Low, indicating greater shared understanding for families across waves and domains. Results suggest a nuanced developmental process for TNBY and their families regarding understanding of gender identity, gender expression, and pronoun use.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

This study focused on how transgender and nonbinary youth and their families collectively understand the youth’s gender identity over time. We also examined how youth’s identity fluctuated over time. We found that while many youth indicated shifts, all but one youth identified as transgender/nonbinary by the end of the study. Findings indicate family members often share an understanding of youth identity, with the highest shared understanding for pronouns and least shared understanding for gender expression.

Keywords:

• Gender identity
• gender expression
• pronouns
• transgender youth
• nonbinary youth
• family

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many people and organizations who have contributed to this project, including: S. Bryn Austin, Laura Bogart, Diane Ehrensaft, Roberta Goldman, Milagros Rosal, Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, Melissa MacNish, Ralph Vetters, Michelle Forcier, the Harvard CFAR Community Advisory Board, the Fenway Youth Community Advisory Board, Kyle Megrath and Athena Edmonds at Greater Boston PFLAG, Shannon Sennott at TransLate Gender, Nick Teich at Camp Aranu’tiq, Julian Dormitzer at the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, Mason Dunn at the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Effie Molina and the LGBT Liaisons at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, Lori Davison at PFLAG Hartford, the Parents of Transgender* Kids Facebook page, Susan Maasch at the Trans Youth Equality Foundation, Meghan Doherty, Eli Godwin, Jax Gonzalez, Til Kus, Yuliya Medzhitova, LB Moore, Kate Oeser, Elena Rossen, Killian Ruck, Carl Streed Jr., Rachel Kahn, Courtney Brown, and the Boston Children’s Hospital Research Informatics Coding Shop. We would also like to thank the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard SOGIE (Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression) Health Equity Research Collaborative. Finally, we would especially like to thank the families who participated in the Trans Teen and Family Narratives Project.

Disclosure statement

Dr. Budge has been hired by the ACLU, Lamda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gender Justice, and Wardenski P.C. to provide expert testimony in court cases. Dr. Katz-Wise is a diversity consultant for Paramount Global. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The Trans Teen and Family Narratives Project was funded by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development [K99R00HD082340] and the Boston Children’s Hospital Aerosmith Endowment Fund for Prevention and Treatment of AIDS and HIV Infections, awarded to Dr. Katz-Wise. Dr. Katz-Wise was supported in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a MCHB T71MC00009 LEAH training grant. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.