“The primary message is that many transgender or gender nonconforming youth have identities outside of a gender binary and that transgender and gender nonconforming youth with different gender identities may have different strengths and challenges in different settings,” Dr. Allen said.
“Our work shows that nonbinary youth have relative safety and support at school compared to their transgender and gender nonconforming peers with binary identities – though it’s important to note that transgender and gender nonconforming youth overall are still at high risk of school harassment and violence. Interventions to promote school safety for youth of all gender identities should consider that transgender and gender nonconforming youth with different gender identities have different risks related to school safety and support.”
She acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including the fact that the researchers used a convenience sample to recruit participants, “which means that we may not have reached transgender and gender nonconforming youth that were less connected to support services or transgender and gender nonconforming peers,” Dr. Allen said. “This study also specifically assessed transgender and gender nonconforming youth; we did not have a comparison group of cisgender participants for comparison due to our study design.”
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Baldwin Wisconsin Ideas Endowment, the University of Wisconsin Advancing Health Equity and Diversity initiative, and the Wisconsin Partnership Program. Dr. Allen reported having no financial disclosures.