1. Introduction and Summary

a. Explanation of Transgender Adolescence

Upon birth, children do not automatically identify themselves as boys or girls; they pick these concepts from their parents, older children, and general surroundings. The lessons begin as soon as the health care provider reveals the baby’s gender in observing their sex organs. Boys and girls learn to sort different colors and toys meant for them. Parents subsequently help the children identify with either gender through affirmations such as “you are strong” and “you are beautiful,” respectively. The children undergo these interactions, which continue into puberty and maturity, where feminine and masculine characters or expressions are socially expected and emphasized. Nonetheless, gender seldom exists within two terms. Instead, it employs a spectrum where different individuals identify and express femininity and masculinity to varying degrees. Therefore, transgender adolescents refer to children who recognize themselves along this spectrum and classify into different genders from the one conferred to them at birth.

i. Definition of Terms

The gender spectrum may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals shortened as LGBT or the Trans and gender non-conforming clients (TGNC). According to the American Psychological Association (2009), gender identity refers to the perception of self as a girl or woman, boy or man, and duly recounts how individuals relate to others and their self-value.  Transgender, on the other hand, forms an all-encompassing term that includes a spectrum of gender-expansive characters and expressions of the minority group in question. The term gender dysphoria makes known the feelings of uneasiness and distress because of the discordance between a person’s sex organs and gender identity. Transgender individuals tend to identify themselves with both genders, that is, non-binary or gender-queer, or they prefer having the identity of the opposite sex. Alternatively, they may consider none of the binary identities. Those who prefer none of the binary identities may refer to themselves as non-binary, agender, or gender-free and will frequently prefer the pronouns “them” or “they” as points of reference.

ii. Theories on Adolescent Transgender

At the adolescent age, some youth may require assistance in identifying their true gender aside from the one assigned to them at birth. This will prompt them or their guardians to seek support for the transition to their appropriate gender identities. A diagnosis of gender dysphoria, formerly known as gender identity disorder (GID), may be provided according to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) to offer them gender confirmation treatments, including hormones or operations. Aside from seeking treatment and transitions the transgender individuals, especially adolescent ones, suffer from anxiety, which may translate into depression over time. Moreover, this group of persons is considered a minority resulting in vulnerability to such adverse conditions. Environments such as home, schools, and work have different impacts on Trans, which addresses the critical areas of concern for trans adolescents in such environments.

b. Summary of Literature Review

The term gender dysphoria has existed since 1970, majorly to identify adult individuals with dissatisfied feelings about binary identity. By this, they sought hormonal or surgery for sex reassignment to adjust to their psychological gender identity (McBride, 2020). In ongoing studies, researchers realized that children and adolescents also underwent similar anguish experiences related to their assigned gender at birth and feelings of having the wrong body. According to a study noted by Martello-Gill (2019), an estimate by the Williams Institute in 2017 at the School of Law in UCLA showed that 150,000 adolescents between 13 to 17 years old in the United States identified themselves as transgender. For a long time, specialists have regarded the transgender issue as a rare occurrence compared to frequent diagnoses of childhood matters, including disruptive behavior conditions or attention discrepancy disarrays.

i. Experiences of Transgender Adolescents at Home and School Settings

Historically, transsexual was the term used to describe individuals who opted to be identified as the opposite gender. They lived as the opposite gender and subsequently wanted to perform surgery for sex reassignment. Additionally, researchers such as Green and Money, identified this transgender phenomenon and derived modern terms, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender dysphoria (Goldbach, 2020). Most minority groups, inclusive of the transgender community, experience oppression significantly. Some of the oppressive acts may include inadequate Trans oriented support, socially and medically, insufficient cultural services to handle those undergoing mental health matters, and drug abuse (Bouman, Nixon, & Arcelus, 2019). Transgender youth (adolescents) may undergo different experiences in various settings, such as homes and school environments. There will be a discovery and disclosure in the home setting where parents discover the gender expansiveness of a child, and they may feel deceived and uncertain about the scenario.   

The family may begin to feel a sense of conflict accompanied by stress, and the Trans individual may experience some rejection when the family struggles with accepting them. Transgender adolescents’ parents usually respond to their children with contempt and desolation upon their display of Trans behavior. These children may respond by attempting to appease their parents by displaying gender-conforming character resulting in shame, sadness, low self-esteem, and even depression. Stigma linked to transgender identity may find the parents of transgender youths with inadequate social care to accept these adolescents. At school, transgender adolescents face a social setting with frequent interactions. Consistent victimization at school is rampant, and the negative responses from the hostile setting may influence their psychosocial tuning in their lives beyond high school.

ii. co-curricular Activities and Transgender Adolescents

Experiences at school may include victimization from peers, staff, faculty members, and a study by the National School Climate Survey (NSCS) indicated that teachers and principals targeted transgender students through some policies. For instance, the NSCS established that about 42.2 percent of these students were restricted from using their desired names and with some required to utilize locker rooms belonging to their assigned birth ender (Kosciw et al., 2018).  These individuals’ peers subject them to bullying in the form of intensified verbal and physical abuse compared to their transgender counterparts. The harassments may include deliberate exclusion from school sport harassments, questioning of their gender identity, being targets of hate speech, and social isolation. Such experiences negatively influence LGBT adolescents’ education access as such treatment may result in unsafe feelings, academic failures, dangerous sexual behavior, rising indiscipline cases,  and low co-curricular achievements.

iii Medical Interventions

Current medical interventions for transgender adolescents include the suppression of endogenous puberty to discourage the progress of undesired transgender characteristics. Additionally, adolescents in later development stages can receive gender-affirming treatment with estrogen or testosterone or undergo entirely irreversible surgeries such as mastectomy or vaginoplasty to encourage the desired binary identity features (Guss et al., 2019). Nonetheless, the interventions possess informed care at community and academic centers, but they are centered on minimal data (Kosciw et al., 2018). Additionally, there are limited data in evaluating the long-standing metabolic and psychological outcomes of medical treatments that are gender-affirming at the adolescent stage. The available guidelines differ according to age differences and on the treatment selections. For instance, 10 to 12 year-olds go for puberty blockers, while 13 to 16 year-olds opt for hormones, and 18 year-olds go for genital operations (Conard, Corathers, & Trotman, 2018). However, diagnoses should give psychological maturity a higher priority compared to age. These treatments happen after the adolescent undergoes assessment and receives a diagnosis of gender dysphoria as per the DSM-5 or gender incompatibility.

2. Research on Mental Positioning of Transgender Adolescents

Studies handling the health status of transgender individuals have grown for a comprehensive outlook on their mental and physical health conditions. According to a report provided by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2011, research about the LGBT community provides a prevalence of suicidal risks and cited depression leading to eating disorders prevalent among the gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents (Kosciw et al., 2018). Other studies showed transgender youth as vulnerable to mental health consequences after undergoing therapy, which is medically gender-affirming.

a. Challenges

i. Classification and Identity of the Teens into LGBT Categories

One of the prevailing challenges that might face research is identifying transgender adolescents into the spectrum of identities. Studies show that over time a good percentage of the transgender people that identify as non-heterosexual or agender have had a shift in understanding their identities sexually. The intricate relationship between transgender identity and gender identity weakens the overriding supposition of having gender described efficiently in a single data axis. This has brought a challenge even in research as it becomes problematic in classification, as LGBT individuals know their gender identities as in flux, incomplete, or overlapping (Kosciw et al., 2018). The accompanying argument is that elements that were considered cultural and personal come from changing experiences of self-exploration, societal pressures, changing terms and concepts emerging within the LGBT society, and comprehension of identities that are individual and nuanced. During data gathering, some transgender adolescents may not readily find their preferred identities in the questioning process, and the sizeable confusing gender spectrum causes a destabilization in the study.

ii. Cultural and Language Complexities

Similarly, cultural and language complexities are other challenges that influence research. Some transgender individuals come from non-English speaking communities, which may present a language barrier (Martello-Gill, 2019). Likewise, data collectors may find it hard to phrase questions in comprehensive formats for school adolescents to enable them to identify themselves and their peers as transgender. Research in colored communities may involve others using local terms or slang language, which may be offensive, in the identification process.

iii Safety Concerns

Safety as a matter of concern may involve both researchers and transgender individuals. A study shows that countries such as Pakistan present threats to researchers and activists of transgender issues. Once a researcher or activist is known to conduct matters concerned with transgender individuals, both researcher, and transgender individuals risk the chances of discrimination, rape, and in worst cases, murder. Though such cases are rare in the United States, it merely points out what these individuals identify themselves as transgender-related people. The police and media can also harass these individuals. In schools, these individuals may come out as transgender individuals hence posing a threat to them from peer students in bullying and discrimination.

b. Recommended Solutions

i. Specified Study on the Identity of Transgender Adolescents

On addressing the problem of identifying and classifying transgender individuals, the research questions or survey questions used in gathering data should differ in multiple ways concerning sexuality and gender. For instance, breaking the question on gender identity into two questions, where one asks general gender identity and the other about transgender identity (Ruberg & Ruelos, 2020). It gives room for the intersecting elements of gender identity not effectively captured as a single data point. Generally, the solution is separating the questions into multiple elements and asking the adolescent respondents to provide their understanding of different gender and sexual orientations.

ii. Representation and Outreach to Transgender Adolescents

To overcome safety challenges, it should be ensured that there is a representation of transgender adolescents at school, including colored communities. Researchers should apply special efforts to notify organizations and groups that work closely with these groups to facilitate research. Therefore, the requirement for transgender youth representation in running research and resources for support needs emphasis. These transgender youths represent their counterparts in critical social justice education models, where they organize internal sessions with adolescent peers, peer evaluations, outside guest and activist speakers (Martello-Gill, 2019). The parents should also be outreached to ensure acceptance of their transgender child. By this, they can advocate for their children in the face of discrimination to avoid the loneliness supposedly felt by these transgender adolescents (Martello-Gill, 2019). Through representation, outreach, cultural, and language complexities are appropriately managed.  

iii. Building Alliances

On addressing cultural and language complexities, the researchers can focus on building alliances and relationships to facilitate easy penetration. This means that researchers on transgender youth or students should collaborate with non-government and government institutions, mental health care providers, cultural groups, and educations departments and schools to involve them and facilitate work (Martello-Gill, 2019). This can reduce the difficulties associated with researching as a single entity. It offsets the challenges of discrimination and other adverse impacts.

3. Psychological Health and Well Being

a. Challenges

i. Discrimination and Associated Stigma on Transgender Adolescents

The mental health and wellbeing of transgender adolescents depend on the experience the individuals undergo at home and school. Discrimination and stigma occur mainly at school, which is a socially interactive setting. Stigma refers to the social practice of stereotyping, labeling, and the refutation of people’s dissimilarities, forming some social control. Interpersonal stigma (verbal, physical, and sexual assaults), structural stigma (Institution norms and policies restraining resource use), and individual stigma (beliefs one holds on self and perceived ones from others) occur prevalently among the Trans individuals. These are subsequently connected to other negative health effects such as suicidal attempts, anxiety, HIV, drug use and abuse, and depression (Hughto, Reisner, & Pachankis 2015). As these individuals shift from their assigned birth gender into transgender identities, parents may exhibit some disdain. Similarly, they may experience bullying at school and other forms of harassment. These experiences have various impacts on the psychological health and wellbeing of these people.

ii. Associated Mental Health Problems facing Transgender Adolescents

Discrimination and stigma cause negative impacts on the health of the transgender community since they work directly in prompting stress. Stress is a significant factor for indisposition and related death cases. Stigma and discrimination also indirectly restrain access to resources supporting health such as authority, information, and money. These heighten the prevalence of mental health problems in adolescents upon subjection to stigma and various forms of harassment resulting in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideas (Connolly et al., 2016). Additionally, the victims of harassment may develop various forms of food disorder to cope with the surrounding.

b. Recommended Solution

i. Initiating the Formation of School Policies

In the face of difficulties for transgender individuals in receiving quality treatment and education in schools, the school administration should enact policies to accommodate this community. For instance, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NTCE) is a body devoted to terminating violence and discrimination against the transgender community. It provides policies that foster a safe and respectful educational environment free from stigma for all learners without considering their gender identity (Beese & Martin, 2018). Such policies should also ensure that all students have the chance to live, express themselves validly, and similarly ensure compliance with federal, state, and local laws on matters such as discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

ii. Counseling by LGBT Professionals

Most health care providers cannot counsel these adolescents LGBT individuals. Studies show a high rate of dissatisfaction from LGBT individuals who attended therapy sessions because of language discontent. Some of the transgender individuals are highly sensitive and note particular pronoun usage during the therapy sessions. Therefore, professionals should manage the ever-shifting identity spectrum of these transgender individuals and address the issues appropriately (Henry & Grubbs, 2016).

4. Conclusion

a. Assessment of the Solution Recommended

On conducting research, performing a specified study is a viable option. It captures all categories of the identities available, including those who would not wish to be identified or categorized into a specific gender. The gender identity spectrum undergoes frequent changes, and one might identify themselves under a new category as they mature into adulthood. This might destabilize data and will call for new studies after some time. In terms of cultural and language complexities, representation and outreach is a feasible option. Nonetheless, measures are required in assessing the competency of individuals performing representation. The outreach on parents brings a sense of acceptance as they become aware that their child’s condition is expected; however, it is not a long-term solution. It will require constant outreach to parents, especially concerning the shifting identities over time. The creation of policies creates more rules of engagement in schools. These policies create a viable solution on paper but may fail recognition of reality. Therefore, these policies should work both on paper and in the actual school settings to create a safe and respectful learning environment. Counseling or therapy by professional LGBT care providers is appropriate since it addresses the needs of transgender individuals.

b. Final Recommendations for Social Change Resolutions

Transgender adolescents are known to have incongruent feelings towards their assigned birth genders. They may experience challenges in different social environments, such as home and schools. Some of the experiences may have adverse effects on their psychological health and wellbeing; for instance, transgender individuals may experience rejection at home and discrimination and bullying at school. These experiences have impacts such as self-harm, anxiety, depression, and suicidal attempts. Therefore, it should be recommended that the policies created should be enacted accompanied by other means such as surveillance to offset any dangers these adolescents may face in the school setting. Virtual communication between parents and teachers should be encouraged for effective collaboration in assisting adolescent individuals to achieve their potentials in academics and school activities. Additionally, the professional LGBT school counselors should learn and explore their approaches in relating to transgender scholars. Similarly, they should be imperatively aware of their legal and ethical responsibilities and subsequently utilizing sensitive and inclusive language when dealing with transgender students.

References

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