Safe Schools? Transgender Youth’s School Experiences and Perceptions of School Climate

Abstract

The magnitude of gender identity-related disparities in school-based outcomes is unknown because of a lack of representative studies that include measures of gender identity. By utilizing a representative sample generalizable to a broader population, this study elucidates the size of gender identity-related disparities, independent of sexual orientation, in school experiences associated with school connectedness and perceptions of school climate. Additionally, the inclusion of and comparison to results of a large non-representative sample allows for more direct comparisons to previous studies of the school experiences of transgender youth. The analyses in this study primarily draw on a sample of 31,896 youth representative of the middle and high school population in California who participated in the 2013-2015 California Student Survey (a subsample of the California Healthy Kids Survey, which includes the largest known sample of transgender youth). Over half the sample identified their sex as female (51.3%), and 398 identified as transgender (1.0%). The sample was racially and ethnically diverse: 30.7% identified as multiracial, 33.0% as White, 11.1% as Asian, 7.4% as Black, and 52.9% as Hispanic. Findings from multilevel analyses show that relative to non-transgender youth, transgender youth were more likely to be truant from school, to experience victimization and bias-based bullying, and to report more negative perceptions of school climate, though did not differ in self-reported grades. The findings have implications for improving school policies and practices to create safer and more supportive school climates for all youth.

Gay‐Straight Alliances, Inclusive Policy, and School Climate:LGBTQYouths’ Experiences of Social Support and Bullying

“…Teachers also serve as the nexus between the implementation of school policies and direct interactions with students (Cohen et al., ). School context becomes even more important when we consider the health and well‐being of LGBTQ youth, as they are more likely to experience school‐based harassment, victimization, and bullying than their cisgender and heterosexual peers (Day, Perez‐Brumer, & Russell, ; Toomey & Russell, ).…”

“The Worst Part Was Coming Back Home and Feeling Like Crying”: Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Students in Portuguese Schools

“…School is often a hostile environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth (Earnshaw et al, 2016;Kosciw et al, 2016;Pizmony-Levy and Kosciw, 2016;Russell and Fish, 2016;Toomey and Russell, 2016;Day et al, 2018;. In fact, bullying based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression has been identified as a global problem violating sexual and gender minority students' rights and hindering their educational success (UNESCO, 2012; Pizmony-Levy and .…”

“…Research shows that in comparison to their heterosexual and cisgender peers, LGBT youth are more likely to experience victimization, report higher rates of truancy (Birkett et al, 2009;Day et al, 2018), have poorer academic performance (Pearson et al, 2007), report more negative perceptions of school climate (Swearer et al, 2008;Birkett et al, 2009;Day et al, 2018), and experience less sense of belonging to their school (Galliher et al, 2004;Pearson et al, 2007). Besides suffering higher levels of school-based victimization compared to heterosexual and cisgender youth (Toomey and Russell, 2016;Day et al, 2018), LGBT students also have to deal with many tasks and challenges concerning their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, such as absence of positive role models, lack of coping mechanisms to deal with victimization and self-acceptance, loneliness, and coming out (Savin-Williams, 1998).…”

Intersections Between Multiple Forms of Bias-Based Bullying Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Youth

“…Previous research emphasizes the importance of school-level factors such as perceived school safety and positive climate in protecting against negative effects of bias-based victimization (Gower et al 2018a, b;McGuire et al 2010). Yet LGBQ youth who also identify as having a disability, are students of color, or who are perceived to have nonconforming gender presentation may have different experiences of these contextual protective factors, or in fact, face disciplinary action or school pushout (Day et al 2018;Kahn and Lindstrom 2015;McGuire et al 2010;Snapp et al 2015). Specifically, these studies point to the role of school adultsteachers, counselors, school staff, administrators-in reinforcing intersecting systems of oppression such as heterosexism, cis-sexism, racism, and able-ism, in the context of bias-based bullying in schools.…”