By Breanna Hagley
Parenting youth can be a challenge. For those parenting youth with extra considerations, it can be even more of a challenge. As a parent with a transgender child, I am going to share with you some of the reasons transgendered youth need extra support and the impact that can have coming from their family.
There are many trails that come with being a teenager. They are developing new world views, learning how to act independently from parents, social learning is being done, and they are developing a sense of self, not to mention the hormones, budding romantic relationships, and pressure to get good grades! With all this going on there seems to be a battle between needing independence from parents and wanting to be loved in their family. Transgendered youth have the additional stress of being a minority and often face minority stress from expressing their true selves.
Minority stress occurs when an individual identifies with a group outside of the societal majority. According to a study conducted by Dryer et al. (2023), the stressors experienced by these groups can be internal such as expectations of rejection, nondisclosure to others, and internalized stigma or they can be external such as harassment, victimization, or misgendering. Each of these stressors leads to decreased mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. The transgendered participants of this study dealt with marginalization over 25% of the days in the study, leading to increased social isolation.
Another study by Travers et al. (2013) found that parents of trans youth who were strongly supportive of their child’s gender identity and expression were 72% more satisfied with their lives than trans youth who had less supportive parents at 33%. Of those participants, 70% of youth with parents who were strongly supportive reported positive mental health compared to 15% whose parents were not strongly supportive.
This study by Travers et al. (2013) also found that trans youth that had considered suicide was 35% for youth whose parents were strongly supportive and 60% of those whose parents were not strongly supportive. Of the 60% without strongly supportive parents, nearly all (57%) had attempted suicide in the previous year while only 4% had attempted suicide from the youth with strongly supportive parents. This is equal to a 93% reduction in reported suicide attempts based just on the support they received from their parents!
Youth face many obstacles as they grow into young adults, dealing with minority stressors increases the toll this can take on the youth’s mental health and self-concept. The single biggest factor that can change the experience of trans youth is having the support of their family. This decreases the potential impact of several negative mental health outcomes as well as their overall satisfaction with life.
Our goal as parents is provide a good life for our children, to protect and shield them from the bad in the world, and to guide them in becoming wonderful human beings. Supporting them through their unique challenges has been shown to drastically improve the outcomes of our youth. If you feel you need additional support or you would like to pursue additional support for your child, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional such as those at Crossroads Collective. We offer gender affirming care to all identities. For additional support visit Trans Care BC to find more resources.
References
Dyar, C., Maroney, M. R., Mustanski, B., Newcomb, M. E., & Puckett, J. A. (2023). Daily experiences of minority stress and mental health in transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 132(3), 340–350. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000814
Trans PULSE, 2012. Impacts of strong parental support for trans youth, Canadian Electronic Library. Canada. Retrieved from https://coilink.org/20.500.12592/h1nwxs on 13 Oct 2024. COI: 20.500.12592/h1nwxs.
