TY - JOUR
T1 - Social Support and Internalizing Psychopathology in Transgender Youth
AU - Durwood, Lily
AU - Eisner, Léïla
AU - Fladeboe, Kaitlyn
AU - Ji, Chonghui
AU - Barney, Samantha
AU - McLaughlin, Katie A.
AU - Olson, Kristina R.
N1 - Funding Information:
K.O. was responsible for funding acquisition and project administration. L.D., K.M., and K.O. shared responsibility for study conception and design. K.O., L.D., S.B., and C.J. shared responsibility for material preparation. Data analysis were conducted by L.E., L.D., and K.F. The first draft of the paper was written by L.D., edited by K.O., K.M., and L.E., and all authors read and approved the final paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Although increasing numbers of children have socially transitioned to live in line with their gender identities, little is known about factors associated with their wellbeing. This study examines the associations between parent-reported family, peer, and school support for a youth’s gender identity, as well as an objective measure of state-level support, with parent-reported internalizing symptoms in 265 transgender youth (67.2% transgender girls, 32.8% transgender boys), ages 3–15 years (M = 9.41, SD = 2.62). Parents who reported higher levels of family, peer, and school support for their child’s gender identity also reported fewer internalizing symptoms; the objective measure of state-level support was not related to internalizing symptoms. Additionally, peer and school support buffered against the association between gender-related victimization and internalizing symptoms, as reported by parents. This work demonstrates that even among transgender youth with families who supported their transitions, parents see better well-being in their children when they also see more support for the child’s gender identity from family, peers, and schools.
AB - Although increasing numbers of children have socially transitioned to live in line with their gender identities, little is known about factors associated with their wellbeing. This study examines the associations between parent-reported family, peer, and school support for a youth’s gender identity, as well as an objective measure of state-level support, with parent-reported internalizing symptoms in 265 transgender youth (67.2% transgender girls, 32.8% transgender boys), ages 3–15 years (M = 9.41, SD = 2.62). Parents who reported higher levels of family, peer, and school support for their child’s gender identity also reported fewer internalizing symptoms; the objective measure of state-level support was not related to internalizing symptoms. Additionally, peer and school support buffered against the association between gender-related victimization and internalizing symptoms, as reported by parents. This work demonstrates that even among transgender youth with families who supported their transitions, parents see better well-being in their children when they also see more support for the child’s gender identity from family, peers, and schools.
KW - Internalizing psychopathology
KW - LGBT youth
KW - Social support
KW - Stress buffering
KW - Transgender
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100764300&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100764300&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10964-020-01391-y
DO - 10.1007/s10964-020-01391-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 33575917
AN - SCOPUS:85100764300
SN - 0047-2891
VL - 50
SP - 841
EP - 854
JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
IS - 5
ER -