Conceptualizing relationships among transgender and gender diverse youth and their caregivers.

Abstract

Family support and acceptance are protective for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youths' mental health and identity development. Although some studies have examined the role of supportive family relationships for TGD youth, prior research has not fully explored how TGD youth and their caregivers understand or characterize these relationships within the family system. In this qualitative study, we explored perspectives of TGD youth and their caregivers regarding youth-caregiver and caregivercaregiver relationships within the family system. We recruited a community-based sample of 20 families (20 TGD youth, ages 7 to 18 years, and 34 caregivers) from 3 U.S. geographic regions. TGD youth represented multiple gender identities; caregivers included mothers (n ϭ 21), fathers (n ϭ 12), and 1 grandmother. Each family member completed an individual semistructured interview that included questions about family relationships. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and transcripts were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Analyses revealed complex bidirectional family relationships, highlighting 5 contextual factors influencing these relationships: school, community, workplace, religion, and extended family. TGD youths' identity development was inextricably linked to how caregivers respond to, adjust to, and learn from their children, and how caregivers interact with one another. Findings illustrate how caregiver acceptance and family cohesion may be linked and how youth and caregivers identified shared contextual factors impacting the family system. This research highlights the importance of situating TGD youth and caregivers as equal partners in family level approaches to affirm and support TGD identity development.

Dynamics of Primary Social Networks to Support Mothers, Fathers, or Guardians of Transgender Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…The articles were published in 2009 (4.7%) [20], 2011 (4.7%) [21], 2013 (4.7%) [22], 2014 (4.7%) [23], 2015 (4.7%) [24], 2016 (9.5%) [25,26], 2018 (4.7%) [27], 2019 (9.5%) [28,29], 2020 (19%) [30][31][32][33], and 2021 (33%) [34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. All articles (100%) were published in English, of which 14 (66.6%) [20,21,[23][24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32]35,37,40] were from America, 6 (28.5%) [29,33,34,36,38,39] were from Europe, and one (4.7%) [22] was from Oceania. The information and the synthesis of the main results of the final sample of all articles included in the review are presented in Table 1.…”

“…Parents were often confronted with the exclusion of social contexts and, above all, with the rejection of partners or family members. S12 [34] Bhattacharyaet al/ Journal of Family Psychology/2020/USA Understand the perspectives of transgender youth and their caregivers, young-caregiver relationship and caregiver-caregiver in the family system.…”

“…There is a bond of mutual dependence between guardians and their transgender children for decision-making and establishing bonds which can be supportive or conflicting [34]. Sometimes, mothers', fathers', or guardians' needs are not considered; however, they need to be sustained in terms of the support they provide to their children [32], especially as a result of the frequent conflicting social pressures due to children's gender identity, which generates a feeling of conflict in their private and public lives.…”

Allostatic Stress and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth: Protocol for a Pilot Cohort Study

“…In addition to the support children receive in their homes, multiple other areas could lead to elevated stress around gender identity, such as the safety of a neighborhood and possible comorbid depression and anxiety [40]. Furthermore, these extrafamilial environments, which also include school, religious, and work environments, had an immense influence over intrafamilial experiences [41], demonstrating the interconnectedness of all environments on the experience of TGE youth. These results highlight the importance of affirmative care in all situations, a stance echoed in a recent policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics [42].…”

Développer la résilience chez les jeunes trans et non binaires : un modèle basé sur l’éthique de la reconnaissance d’Axel Honneth

“…De plus, même lorsque les familles se montrent acceptantes et soutenantes à l'intérieur de la sphère familiale, elles rencontrent des critiques et des jugements provenant de l'extérieur (famille élargie, voisinage, école, ami.e.x.s) Pullen Sansfaçon et al, 2015). Ainsi, les relations intrafamiliales ne dépendent pas uniquement des dynamiques familiales, mais aussi de cinq facteurs contextuels que sont l'école, la communauté dans laquelle vit la famille, le travail des parents, la religion et la famille élargie (Bhattacharya et al, 2020). De plus les parents et les jeunes doivent trouver des ressources adéquates comme des centres spécialisés, des thérapeutes ou des groupes de soutien, et dans beaucoup de cas l'accès à ces ressources est difficile voire compromis pour des raisons aussi triviales que l'inexistence de ressources appropriées, l'éloignement géographique ou le coût financier (Pullen Sansfaçon et al, 2015;Riley et al, 2011).…”