Transactional pathways of transgender identity development in transgender and gender-nonconforming youth and caregiver perspectives from the Trans Youth Family Study

Background: A growing body of research has examined transgender identity development, but no studies have investigated developmental pathways as a transactional process between youth and caregivers, incorporating perspectives from multiple family members. The aim of this study was to conceptualize pathways of transgender identity development using narratives from both transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGN) youth and their cisgender (nontransgender) caregivers.

Methods: The sample included 16 families, with 16 TGN youth, ages 7 to 18 years, and 29 cisgender caregivers (N = 45 family members). TGN youth represented multiple gender identities, including trans boy (n = 9), trans girl (n = 5), gender-fluid boy (n = 1), and girlish boy (n = 1). Caregivers included mothers (n = 17), fathers (n = 11), and one grandmother. Participants were recruited from LGBTQ community organizations and support networks for families with transgender youth in the Midwest, Northeast, and South regions of the United States. Each family member completed a one-time, in-person semistructured qualitative interview that included questions about transgender identity development.

Results: Analyses revealed seven overarching themes of transgender identity development, which were organized into a conceptual model: Trans identity development, sociocultural influences/societal discourse, biological influences, family adjustment/impact, stigma/cisnormativity, support/resources, and gender affirmation/actualization.

Conclusions: Findings underscore the importance of assessing developmental processes among TGN youth as transactional, impacting both youth and their caregivers.     

Feeling-of-knowing for songs and instrumental music

We explored the differences between metamemory judgments for titles as well as for melodies of instrumental music and those for songs with lyrics. Participants were given melody or title cues and asked to provide the corresponding titles or melodies or feeling of knowing (FOK) ratings. FOK ratings were higher but less accurate for titles with melody cues than vice versa, but only in instrumental music, replicating previous findings. In a series of seven experiments, we ruled out style, instrumentation, and strategy differences as explanations for this asymmetry. A mediating role of lyrics between the title and the melody in songs was also ruled out. What emerged as the main explanation was the degree of familiarity with the musical pieces, which was manipulated either episodically or semantically, and within this context, lyrics appeared to serve as an additional source of familiarity. Results are discussed using the Interactive Theory of how FOK judgments are made.     

The effects of general and homophobic victimization on adolescents' psychosocial and educational concerns: the importance of intersecting identities and parent support

Many adolescents experience peer victimization, which often can be homophobic. Applying the minority stress model with attention to intersecting social identities, this study tested the effects of general and homophobic victimization on several educational outcomes through suicidality and school belonging among 15,923 adolescents in Grades 7 through 12 on account of their sexual orientation and race/ethnicity. Parent support also was tested as a moderator of these effects. Homophobic victimization had different effects on suicidality across groups, indicating the importance of considering individuals' multiple social identities. However, homophobic victimization had universal negative effects on school belonging for all groups. Nearly all indirect effects of general and homophobic victimization on reported grades, truancy, and importance of graduating were significant through suicidality and school belonging across groups. Parent support was most consistent in moderating the effects of general and homophobic victimization on suicidality for heterosexual White and racial/ethnic minority youth. In nearly all cases, it did not moderate the effects of general or homophobic victimization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Furthermore, in most cases, parent support did not moderate the effects of general or homophobic victimization on school belonging. Findings underscore the need for counseling psychologists to work with parents of all youth on ways to provide support to those who experience homophobic victimization. Furthermore, they highlight the need for counseling psychologists to be involved as social justice advocates in the passage and implementation of school policies that address homophobic bullying and other forms of bias-based bullying and harassment.     

Mapping the moral domain

The moral domain is broader than the empathy and justice concerns assessed by existing measures of moral competence, and it is not just a subset of the values assessed by value inventories. To fill the need for reliable and theoretically grounded measurement of the full range of moral concerns, we developed the Moral Foundations Questionnaire on the basis of a theoretical model of 5 universally available (but variably developed) sets of moral intuitions: Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, Ingroup/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity. We present evidence for the internal and external validity of the scale and the model, and in doing so we present new findings about morality: (a) Comparative model fitting of confirmatory factor analyses provides empirical justification for a 5-factor structure of moral concerns; (b) convergent/discriminant validity evidence suggests that moral concerns predict personality features and social group attitudes not previously considered morally relevant; and (c) we establish pragmatic validity of the measure in providing new knowledge and research opportunities concerning demographic and cultural differences in moral intuitions. These analyses provide evidence for the usefulness of Moral Foundations Theory in simultaneously increasing the scope and sharpening the resolution of psychological views of morality.     

Religion,Prejudice, and Authoritarianism: Is RWA a Boon or Bane to the Psychology of Religion?

In research on religiosity and prejudice, right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) has been studied alongside variables such as fundamentalism and orthodoxy. Four concerns regarding research on the relationship between RWA and religiosity are identified: (1) the overlap of religiosity and prejudice within the RWA scale; (2) the inflation of relationships by correlating part‐whole measures; (3) covariation in the extremes of the construct hiding the possible independence of components within RWA; and (4) statistical artifacts arising in multiple regression from the combination of these factors. We elaborate these four issues and then demonstrate how they can lead to different interpretations of some previously published data. The article concludes with suggestions for the management and resolution of these issues that may allow RWA to continue to be used in religiosity and prejudice research and how it might evolve to become the boon to researchers that they seek.     

Comparison of progressive prompt delay with and without instructive feedback

We examined the effectiveness and efficiency of 2 instructional arrangements using progressive prompt delay (PPD) with 3 young children with autism and 1 child with developmental delays. Specifically, we compared PPD with instructive feedback (IF) to PPD without IF in an adapted alternating treatment design. The results suggested that (a) children with autism and developmental delays can learn when PPD is used with IF, (b) IF can be an effective method of instruction for young children with autism and developmental delays, and (c) the combination of PPD and IF can increase the efficiency of instruction. Data collected 8 to 9 weeks after instruction ended showed that participants maintained mastery of 58% to 92% of the acquired behaviors. We discuss these results within the constraints and limitations of the data and recommend areas for future research.     

Effects of pedestrian prompts on motorist yielding at crosswalks

Pedestrian safety is a serious concern at busy intersections and pedestrian campuses across the nation. Although crosswalks and signs inform pedestrians where to cross, there is no standard protocol for pedestrians to signal drivers that they wish to use the crosswalks, except to stand in or at the crosswalk. We examined the effects of two pedestrian prompts, a raised hand and extended arm, on motorist yielding at uncontrolled crosswalks. The two prompts were effective at increasing yielding.     

Evaluation of fixed momentary dro schedules under signaled and unsignaled arrangements

Fixed momentary schedules of differential reinforcement of other behavior (FM DRO) generally have been ineffective as treatment for problem behavior. Because most early research on FM DRO included presentation of a signal at the end of the DRO interval, it is unclear whether the limited effects of FM DRO were due to (a) the momentary response requirement of the schedule per se or (b) discrimination of the contingency made more salient by the signal. To separate these two potential influences, we compared the effects of signaled versus unsignaled FM DRO with 4 individuals with developmental disabilities whose problem behavior was maintained by social-positive reinforcement. During signaled FM DRO, the experimenter presented a visual stimulus 3 s prior to the end of the DRO interval and delivered reinforcement contingent on the absence of problem behavior at the second the interval elapsed. Unsignaled DRO was identical except that interval termination was not signaled. Results indicated that signaled FM DRO was effective in decreasing 2 subjects' problem behavior, whereas an unsignaled schedule was required for the remaining 2 subjects. These results suggest that the response requirement per se of FM DRO may not be problematic if it is not easily discriminated.     

Assessment and treatment of foot-shoe fetish displayed by a man with autism

Results of a functional analysis indicated that a man diagnosed with autism engaged in bizarre sexual behavior in the presence of women wearing sandals. Several treatments proved to be ineffective or impractical. By contrast, a response-interruption/time-out procedure quickly eliminated the problem behavior in multiple settings.