Exploring Physical, Nonphysical, and Discrimination-Based Victimization among Transgender Youth in California Public Schools

Abstract

Research has shown elevated rates of peer victimization among transgender youth in schools, placing them at risk of an array of negative social and psychological outcomes well into adulthood. We conducted a secondary analysis of the 2015-2016 California Healthy Kids Survey to examine rates of physical victimization (physical acts such as being pushed or shoved) and nonphysical victimization (nonphysical acts such as having mean rumors spread about them) and discriminatory peer bullying (any act of bullying based on gender, perceived lesbian or gay identity, and race) among transgender and nontransgender youth. In addition, this study explored the intersection of race and transgender identity and associations with victimization. Chi-square tests and logistic regression results indicated that transgender youth reported significantly higher rates of physical and nonphysical victimization and discriminatory peer bullying than nontransgender peers. Logistic regression results also revealed that disparities in race-based discriminatory peer bullying between transgender and nontransgender youth were greater among Latinx students than White students. The study's findings illustrate the need for schools to create affirming environments for racially diverse transgender youth.

Prevalence, Inequalities, and Impact of Bullying in Adolescence: Insights from the #BeeWell Study

“…Further work is required to determine the source(s) of these contrasting findings, as current evidence is far from consistent, as highlighted by a review of empirical research by Xu et al (2020). Future research should seek to determine the factors that underpin the direction of any observed ethnic inequalities in bullying victimisation, including, for example, the ethnic composition of school classes (Vervoort et al, 2010) intersectionality with other aspects of young people's identities (De Pedro et al, 2019), and/or social-ecological, ethnic identity, and cultural factors that may serve as risk or protective factors for young people from ethnic minorities (Xu et al, 2020).…”

Best Practices for Supporting Transgender Youth in Schools

“…Unfortunately, even within schools with strong prevention programs, transgender youth experience bullying from their peers (De Pedro et al, 2019). There are steps school staff can take to respond have been shown to significantly decrease bullying (Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2019;Olweus et al, 2019;Sullivan et al, 2021):…”

Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth’s Experiences of Gender-Related Adversity

“…Future studies on adversity exposure in TGD youth will greatly benefit from recruiting more diverse samples, including TGD youth with other marginalized identities or experiences (e.g., youth of Color, low socioeconomic status, dearth of caregiver support). It will be particularly important for these studies to include racially and ethnically diverse samples of TGD youth, who may experience varying levels of acceptance and discrimination as well intersectional forms of adversity (Bradford et al, 2013;De Pedro et al, 2019;Hatchel & Marx, 2018). Second, though we included several questions about genderand non-gender-related adversities-a strength of this study that distinguishes it from many others-our data were limited in their nature.…”