Experiences and Stressors of Parents of Trans and Gender-Diverse Youth in Clinical Care from Trans Youth CAN!

Abstract

Parents of trans and gender-diverse youth can experience challenges navigating gender-affirming (GA) care such as stigma, transphobia, and lack of support. There is little information available about stressors, worries, and positive feelings of parents as they try to support their youth accessing GA care. This article presents baseline survey data on experiences and stressors of 160 parents/caregivers in the Trans Youth CAN! cohort study, which examined medical, social, and family outcomes in youth age 16 years or younger considering puberty blockers or GA hormones. Data were collected at 10 Canadian gender clinics. Authors report on participating parents’ characteristics, levels of support toward youth, stressors, worries, concerns, and positive feelings related to youth’s gender. Most parent participants were White (85.1 percent), female (85.1 percent), birth or adoptive parents (96.1 percent), and reported strong support for youth’s gender. Participants’ concerns included their youth facing rejection (81.9 percent), generalized transphobia (74.6 percent), or encountering violence (76.4 percent). Parents also reported positive feelings about seeing their youth grow more confident. Most parental worries and stressors were situated outside the family, reflecting the systemic discrimination faced by youth and their families. Social workers could address these by developing systems-focused interventions and by further taking into account intersectional health disparities.

Experiences of Parents of Trans and Non-Binary Children Living in the Region of Quebec

“…This research study highlighted the different experiences of parents with TNB children living in the studied regions. Similar to parents living in large urban centres, these parents frequently report experiences of grief, anxiety, and vulnerabilities [12,17,29,46,[55][56][57][58][59]. These findings, both on an individual and family level, are similar to those living in regional or urban areas.…”

“…Because TNB youth are more likely to experience adversity than cisgender youth (i.e., those whose gender corresponds to the sex assigned at birth), parents of TNB children often have many concerns, such as their child being rejected, experiencing violence or transphobia, or self-harming [17]. Various studies have also shown that parental support is a key factor in the well-being of young TNB, reducing the risk of suicide, anxiety disorders, and other mental health problems [12,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…Moreover, decision making by parents to ensure the best interests of their children is also a significant source of stress [8,[26][27][28]. For example, parents may have difficulty knowing when and how to disclose their children's gender identity [29] due to fear of experiencing minority stress [30], experiences of ostracism, and/or rejection from those around them [29], receiving unwanted advice from other parents or friends, and feeling judged about their parenting skills [17,31]. Nevertheless, parents' concerns are quickly dispelled when they perceive the positive effects on their children's well-being [32].…”

“…The nature of support varies. It includes calling on a friend, another parent, their spouse or partner, their child, healthcare providers [17], peers, parent groups [8,14,36], and other professionals [14].…”

Incorporating DEI informed-frameworks and increasing access to parent-focused interventions in pediatric psychology.

“…A growing body of research is demonstrating the importance of providing gender-affirming health care (Salas-Humara et al, 2019), which is linked to improved emotional wellbeing, decreased suicidal ideation and deaths by suicide, and improved quality of life (Allen et al, 2019; Turban et al, 2020). Parent acceptance and support is critical to the wellbeing of these youth, as is support for the parents themselves who report difficulty helping their children navigate health systems, tension in interpersonal relationships, concern about their child’s well-being, and stress as they make medical decisions (Sansfaçon et al, 2022). Buckloh et al’s (2022) article outlining best practices in working with parents of gender diverse provides a robust overview of issues commonly navigated as part of care and offer concretes guidance for how to facilitate parent–child communication, collaborate with the medical team, and provide interventions to parents as they journey alongside their children.…”