Gay-Straight Alliances Vary on Dimensions of Youth Socializing and Advocacy: Factors Accounting for Individual and Setting-Level Differences

Gay‐Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school‐based youth settings that could promote health. Yet, GSAs have been treated as homogenous without attention to variability in how they operate or to how youth are involved in different capacities. Using a systems perspective, we considered two primary dimensions along which GSAs function to promote health: providing socializing and advocacy opportunities. Among 448 students in 48 GSAs who attended six regional conferences in Massachusetts (59.8 % LGBQ; 69.9 % White; 70.1 % cisgender female), we found substantial variation among GSAs and youth in levels of socializing and advocacy. GSAs were more distinct from one another on advocacy than socializing. Using multilevel modeling, we identified group and individual factors accounting for this variability. In the socializing model, youth and GSAs that did more socializing activities did more advocacy. In the advocacy model, youth who were more actively engaged in the GSA as well as GSAs whose youth collectively perceived greater school hostility and reported greater social justice efficacy did more advocacy. Findings suggest potential reasons why GSAs vary in how they function in ways ranging from internal provisions of support, to visibility raising, to collective social change. The findings are further relevant for settings supporting youth from other marginalized backgrounds and that include advocacy in their mission.     

Supporting Transgender and Sex Reassignment Issues

SUMMARY

For the care provider unfamiliar with supporting transsexual and transgender persons, as well as their partners, it becomes an imperative to be able to identify this population's unique needs, transition concerns and relationship dynamics. New challenges arise as transgender clients become more prevalent within the GLBT community and contact community clinical resources. These include distinguishing between sexual orientation and the complexities of gender identity; differentiating actual transgender issues and ordinary relationship concerns; and recognizing characteristics of strong relationships versus those doomed to fail when one or both partner's needs can no longer get met.

This article reviews an abundance of stereotypes adversely affecting transgender individuals, relationships and which can taint the treatment environment. At a core level, there exists the need for care providers to recognize when having a transgender identity stops being a disorder, such as when the client is no longer gender dysphoric, and where the care provider needs to advocate the individual's right of self-determination. This includes recognizing when situational depression or anxiety and social discrimination are the actual root of ongoing individual and relationship concerns. With basic transgender knowledge, effectively supporting transgender persons and their relationships is possible for cross-specialty providers, and is recommended.     

The Impact of Cumulative Minority Stress on Cognitive Behavioral Treatment With Gender Minority Individuals: Case Study and Clinical Recommendations

For sexual minority individuals (i.e., lesbian, gay, and bisexual [LGB] persons), minority stress includes experiences of discrimination, expectations of rejection, internalized negativity, and concealment of identity. Sexual minority stress has been linked to various negative mental health outcomes (e.g., depression, anxiety), and levels of psychiatric comorbidity are high among LGB people. However, little is known about the extension of minority stress models to gender minority individuals (i.e., transgender and gender nonconforming persons) and its impact on mental health in this particular group. Further, the influence of gender minority stress on the delivery and outcome of traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches is unclear. A case study of CBT for chronic depression with a young, transgender individual is presented. This case study highlights potential barriers that may arise with gender minority clients when implementing evidence-based clinical interventions in the context of an individual’s minority stress history. Implications for cognitive-behavioral treatments with gender minority individuals and recommendations for clinicians and researchers are discussed.     

Exploring social television,opinion leaders,and Twitter audience reactions to Diane Sawyer's coming out interview with Caitlyn Jenner

With increasing visibility in both fictional and nonfictional media, transgender individuals have become a staple of the media landscape. Nonetheless, the general public has been slow to warm to transgender individuals and the rights of this community of people. The present study explored the audience reception to Caitlyn Jenner's coming out interview with Diane Sawyer. Examining Twitter conversations as part of a social television experience, this paper focuses on the types of words and phrases used in response to the interview, the themes that were present in the conversation, and the opinion leaders who helped to shape the discussion. Co-occurrence of themes was also explored. Results indicated an overwhelmingly positive response from live tweeters watching Jenner's coming out interview, led by a small but influential group of celebrities and media personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Perez Hilton. Top themes included support, gender, journey to truth, family drama, and bravery. The results are positioned within an exploration of the social nature of television viewing and reception of transgenderism by mainstream audiences.     

Bullies,blades, and barricades: Practical considerations for working with adolescents expressing concerns regarding gender and identity

ABSTRACT

Background: Adolescents, by their very nature and need for maturity, struggle with issues of the self and identity, while challenging the very systems that are there to support them. However, gender diverse adolescents may become detached and overwhelmed as a trans identity solidifies during this time. Bullies, blades and barricades describes the challenges, hardship and dispossession that some gender diverse adolescents face from interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts, societal pressure and hostility.

Method: This paper utilizes the current research on safety and risks affecting trans youth, the authors clinical experience of trans and gender diverse adolescents, and recommendations in the literature for professional care and support of gender diverse adolescents to identify the various ways gender diverse adolescents are negatively affected by their experiences.

Results: Bullying is not limited to school or peer environments and may be present in adolescents' homes, in local communities, in professional services or from sources of information such as the media. The physical dangers gender diverse adolescents face may arise from victimization, violence or rejection, or self-harming behaviors due to negative beliefs, fear or frustration. Barriers preventing disclosure and expression of gender and/or identity may stem from negative experiences, rejection, pubertal changes, imposed limitations, dependence upon school, home or legal environments, or other spheres of influence.

Discussion: Affirmative approaches, individual focus, recognition of family dynamics, inclusion of significant others, advocacy in school and local community environments as well as professional training are the most commonly recommended interventions. This paper provides an inclusive review of the myriad of challenges confronting gender diverse adolescents including often unrecognized forms of pressure, oppression and restrictions. This paper aims to support clinicians by contextualizing the adversity that gender diverse adolescents face and offers strategies for engagement and intervention.     

Empowering communities through social media

Multicultural competence is a cornerstone of modern day counseling psychology. The new multicultural and social justice competencies highlight the integration of social justice and multicultural frameworks. These competencies include community engagement through social justice advocacy. Social media may be one way to advocate for social justice for underserved or marginalized communities. Social media networks impact in the Arab Spring and the 2016 United States (U.S.) Presidential election suggests that people may utilize social media to inform and act on their social or political views. Throughout this article, we will explore the benefits of social media for raising critical consciousness, as defined by Freire, and examine how counseling psychologists can utilize social media to engage in social justice advocacy in diverse communities.     

Toward a Theology of Hospitality

This article considers the need for a repositioning from advocacy to the embodiment of a theology of hospitality in focusing on the issue of statelessness as an issue of gender discrimination. To address statelessness adequately, the churches should exercise the ministry of hospitality for “strangers” as the basis for their advocacy to protect stateless persons and defend their basic and fundamental rights with regard to nationality.     

Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale - Gender Spectrum (UGDS-GS): Construct validity among transgender,nonbinary, and LGBQ samples

Abstract

Background: Researchers combined both versions of the original Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale (UGDS) to create a single gender spectrum version (UGDS-GS) which measures dissatisfaction with gender identity and expression over time as well as comfort with affirmed gender identity.

Aim: This study examined the construct validity of the newly revised, UGDS-GS.

Method: Tests of measurement invariance were conducted in stages to assess measurement invariance of the UGDS-GS across three groups: cisgender, binary transgender, and nonbinary/genderqueer.

Results: Findings indicate that the UGDS-GS functions acceptably in all three gender groups (configural and metric invariance). Also, across binary transgender and nonbinary/genderqueer groups, the measure functions very similarly with all four types of invariance. Item level findings highlight the specificity of the measure to distinguish experiences of binary transgender and nonbinary/genderqueer persons differently from cisgender LGBQ individuals.

Conclusions: The UGDS-GS demonstrates a large degree of invariance across binary transgender, nonbinary/genderqueer, and cisgender LGBQ subgroups; and therefore, findings indicate this revision to be a substantial improvement. This 18-item self-report, Likert-type scale measure is a) inclusive of all gender identities and expressions (e.g., transfeminine spectrum, transmasculine spectrum, genderqueer, nonbinary, cisgender); b) appropriate for use longitudinally from adolescence to adulthood; and c) administered at any point in the social or medical transition process, if applicable, or in community-based research focused on gender dysphoria that examines cisgender and transgender persons.     

Are Transgender Persons at Higher Risk for HIV Than Other Sexual Minorities? A Comparison of HIV Prevalence and Risks

SUMMARY

Recent studies have shown that transgender people are at high risk for HIV. Few studies, however, have directly compared the HIV risks and sexual health of transgender persons with that of other sexual minority populations. This study used baseline data of intervention studies targeting transgender persons, men who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women and men to compare their HIV risk behavior and sexual health. No significant differences were found between transgender persons and nontransgender men or women in consistent condom use or attitudes toward condom use. Transgender persons were less likely to have multiple partners and more likely to be monogamous than men who have sex with men; no differences were found between transgender persons and the women in this respect. When combining data on condom use, monogamy, and multiple partners, transgender persons did not differ from either nontransgender group in their overall risk for HIV. Transgender persons were less likely than the men or the women to have been tested for HIV. With regard to HIV prevalence, 17% of the men compared to only one transgender person and none of the women reported being HIV-positive. Transgender persons were also less likely than men who have sex with men to use drugs; no differences were found in the use of alcohol. However, with regard to mental health, transgender persons were more likely than the men to have experienced depression and more likely than men or women to have considered or attempted suicide. Finally, transgender persons reported the lowest levels of support from family and peers. Thus, in our sample, transgender persons appear to be at lower risk for HIV but at higher risk for mental health concerns than men who have sex with men. Remarkably few differences were found between transgender persons and women who have sex with women and men-a finding which might reflect the impact of social stigma on sexual health and have implications for the design of future HIV/STI prevention efforts.     

An Ethical Imperative: Effectively Reducing SGM Disparities Utilizing a Multi-Level Intervention Approach

Health disparities for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations are well documented and manifest systemically. Mental health professionals have begun working to address these disparities, demonstrating efforts to more effectively define and increase competency in SGM health and by adapting existing evidence-based interventions to more effectively target the unique needs of the SGM community. While such efforts are necessary, they inadequately address the systemic nature of the problem, placing an unnecessary burden on SGM individuals to tolerate systemic discrimination, injustice, and inequality. The current special series attempts to address this gap by featuring papers that describe multilevel (e.g., micro, mezzo, macro) intervention approaches to reduce SGM health disparities. We argue that advocacy is inherent to the work, and we hope that this special series will empower mental health professionals to engage in multilevel, systemic interventions as an ethical imperative.     

Coping in context: sociocultural determinants of responses to sexual harassment

The authors investigated coping responses to sexual harassment across 4 samples of working women from 3 cultures and 2 occupational classes. Complete-link cluster analyses provide preliminary support for D. E. Knapp, R. H. Faley, S. E. Ekeberg, and C. L. Z. Dubois's (1997) coping framework, suggesting that avoidance, denial, negotiation, advocacy seeking, and social coping are universal responses to sexual harassment. Further, L. F. Fitzgerald's (1990) internal-external dichotomy appears to capture higher order relationships among coping responses. In addition, regression analyses suggest that Turkish and Hispanic American women engage in more avoidance than Anglo American women, and Hispanic women also use more denial but less advocacy seeking. No differences emerged in social coping. The authors discuss these results in the context of coping theory, individualism-collectivism, power distance, and patriarchal gender norms.     

Social Contact,Loneliness, and Mass Media Use: A Test of Two Hypotheses1

The possible connections between social variables such as frequency of social activity and subjective loneliness on the one hand, and extent of mass media use on the other, have received relatively little empirical attention. In this investigation, two related hypotheses concerning such links are proposed. The compensation hypothesis holds that persons with little social contact or greater loneliness will be more likely to utilize mass media to compensate for social impoverishment. The buffering hypothesis more specifically predicts that such compensation is effective; that is, persons “at risk” for loneliness because of diminished social contact may be at least partially protected from subjective loneliness due to heavy use of mass media. The hypotheses were tested in two samples: college students and a group of adolescent males attending a summer camp. Little support was found for the compensation hypothesis. While limited support was found for the buffering hypothesis, analyses also revealed an unexpected opposite effect; for the music variable, heavy media use actually intensified the association between social deficits and subjective loneliness. Some limitations of this study are discussed, and issues related to the unexpected “intensification” effects are presented.     

Social justice advocacy among doctoral students in professional psychology programs

This study examined the relationships among multicultural competency, task-oriented coping, spirituality, political involvement, and experiences of discrimination on students’ engagement in social justice advocacy in a sample of 412 clinical, counseling, and school psychology doctoral students. Specifically, this study examined the mediating role of political involvement and task-oriented coping between the predictor variables and social justice advocacy. The results showed that the relationship between experiencing discrimination and social justice advocacy was only present when participants reported more political involvement and more task-oriented coping. The same was true for the relationship between spirituality and social justice advocacy; this relationship was only present when going through task-oriented coping. Further while there was a relationship between students’ multicultural knowledge and social justice advocacy, it was partly accounted for by political involvement. Similarly, the relationship between multicultural awareness and social justice advocacy was partly accounted for by task-oriented coping. Implications and recommendations for future research are addressed.     

Children’s Responses to Computer‐Synthesized Speech in Educational Media: Gender Consistency and Gender Similarity Effects

This study examines children’s social responses to gender cues in synthesized speech in a computer‐based instruction setting. Eighty 5th‐grade elementary school children were randomly assigned to one of the conditions in a full‐factorial 2 (participant gender) × 2 (voice gender) × 2 (content gender) experiment. Results show that children apply gender‐based social rules to synthesized speech. More specifically, children evaluate synthesized speech more positively, trust the speech more, and learn more effectively when voice gender matches either content gender (consistency attraction) and/or their own gender (similarity attraction). Children’s computer self‐efficacy was a significant covariate for their social responses to synthesized speech. Theoretical and practical implications of the current study for the design of educational media are discussed.     

The Gender Identity Reflection and Rumination Scale: Development and Psychometric Evaluation

The authors describe the development of the Gender Identity Reflection and Rumination Scale (GRRS), which measures rumination in the context of gender identity among transgender persons. GRRS items were formulated taking into account previous research on rumination, stigma stress, and identity processing. Two national U.S. samples were collected to investigate the psychometric properties of the GRRS, resulting in 3 factors of gender identity rumination: Reflection, Rumination, and Preoccupation With Others’ Perceptions.     

Gender as an Obstacle in HIV/AIDS Prevention: Considerations for the Development of HIV/AIDS Prevention Efforts for Male-to-Female Transgenders

SUMMARY

Social discourses regarding gender are responsible for molding people's cognitions, perceptions, behaviors, and interactions with others. Approaching and understanding gender socialization is an important strategy that must be included in the development of HIV/AIDS prevention intervention efforts targeting male-to-female (MTF) transgender people.

This paper represents an effort to identify the influence of gender construction among a group of MTF transgenders in Puerto Rico. Using combined methodology, authors examined results from a questionnaire and in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of MTF transgenders living in the San Juan metropolitan area.

Quantitative analysis demonstrated that this sample is composed of young, unemployed, and undereducated population. Many participated in the sex industry. Participants reported need for basic health and social services and alienation from social networks. Qualitative analysis confirmed their traditional social construction of the “feminine.” Their discourse underlines their need to reinforce their identity by the construction of a female self which undermines their possibilities for negotiating safer sex, as happens to most females in Latino societies.

Social vulnerability, institutional exclusion, and gender construction issues are obstacles for the HIV prevention efforts among these communities.     

Gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people: A case control study

Abstract

Background: Binary transgender people access gender affirming medical interventions to alleviate gender incongruence and increase body satisfaction. Despite the increase in nonbinary transgender people, this population are less likely to access transgender health services compared to binary transgender people. No research has yet understood why by exploring levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people to controls [binary transgender people and cisgender (nontrans) people].

Method: In total, 526 people from a community sample in the UK took part in the study (97 nonbinary, 91 binary, and 338 cisgender identifying people). Participants were asked to complete an online survey about gender congruence and body satisfaction.

Results: There were differences in gender congruence and body satisfaction between nonbinary and binary transgender people. On sex-specific parts of the body (i.e., chest, genitalia, and secondary sex characteristics), nonbinary transgender people reported significantly higher levels of gender and body satisfaction compared to binary transgender people. However, there was no difference in congruence and satisfaction with social gender role between the two transgender groups (nonbinary and binary). Cisgender people reported significantly higher levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction compared to transgender people (nonbinary and binary).

Conclusions: There are differences in gender congruence and body satisfaction between nonbinary and binary transgender people. Nonbinary individuals may be less likely to access transgender health services due to experiencing less gender incongruence and more body satisfaction compared to binary transgender people. Transgender health services need to be more inclusive of nonbinary transgender people and their support and treatment needs, which may differ from those who identify within the binary gender system.