Adult development and quality of life of transgender and gender nonconforming people

Abstract

Purpose of review Research on the health of transgender and gender nonconforming people has been limited with most of the work focusing on transition-related care and HIV. This review summarizes research to date on the overall development and quality of life of transgender and gender nonconforming adults, and makes recommendations for future research. Recent findings Pervasive stigma and discrimination attached to gender nonconformity affect the health of transgender people across the lifespan, particularly when it comes to mental health and wellbeing. Despite the related challenges, transgender and gender nonconforming people may develop resilience over time. Social support and affirmation of gender identity play herein a critical role. While there is a growing awareness of diversity in gender identity and expression among this population, a comprehensive understanding of biopsychosocial development beyond the gender binary and beyond transition is lacking. Summary Greater visibility of transgender people in society has revealed the need to understand and promote their health and quality of life broadly, including but not limited to gender dysphoria and HIV. This means addressing their needs in context of their families and communities, sexual and reproductive health, and successful aging. Research is needed to better understand what factors are associated with resilience and how it can be effectively promoted.

Gender minority stress, sleep disturbance, and sexual victimization in transgender and gender nonconforming adults

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between gender minority protective factors and sleep disturbances in TGNC individuals. Increasing feelings of community connectedness in TGNC individuals is imperative, as it increases positive outcomes for TGNC populations (e.g., increased self‐esteem, resilience; Bockting et al, ; Testa et al, ). In addition, our results demonstrated that an alarming 77% of the TGNC participants in the sample experienced sexual assault victimization since age 14.…”

“…Nonaffirmation of gender identity can include instances such as referring to a TGNC person using the wrong gender pronouns or calling a TGNC person a former name that no longer fits an individual's gender identity (Testa, Habarth, Peta, Balsam, & Bockting, ). Affirmation of transgender identity has been posited to be crucial for emotional wellbeing and development of resilience (Bockting et al, ; Nuttbrock, Rosenblum, & Blumenstein, ). However, no known study has examined the relationship between gender minority stress and sleep disturbances in TGNC individuals, or whether gender minority stress moderates the association between sexual assault and sleep disturbances.…”

What's in a Guideline? Developing Collaborative and Sound Research Designs that Substantiate Best Practice Recommendations for Transgender Health Care

“…Transgender medicine presents a particular challenge for the development of evidence-based guidelines. First and foremost, data on health outcomes in transgender medicine are currently limited to retrospective studies, case series, and individual case reports due to the lack of funding opportunities for research in this field as well as institutional stigmatization of the transgender community [8,9]. In addition, the lack of uniform data collection by gender identity renders much of the population effectively invisible in health outcome surveillance efforts [10,11].…”

Fluidity models in ancient Greece and current practices of sex assignment

“…15,19 Social stressors, such as the current debates over bathroom use by transgender individuals or over homosexual relationships and marriage, may lead to increased biological and psychological morbidity for these patients. 20 …”