“I Am My Own Gender”: Resilience Strategies of Trans Youth

A growing body of literature has described the barriers trans youth experience related to gender identity and expression (Gonzalez & McNulty, 2010; Grossman & D'Augelli, 2007), yet less information is known about trans youth's resilience in terms of their ability to manage societal discrimination in their lives. The words trans or transgender have been used to describe individuals whose sex assigned at birth (i.e., male or female) is not in alignment with their gender identity (e.g., woman or man) and expression (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2010). The prevalence rates of trans youth are difficult to specify, especially because there has been little research with this group and the few youth surveys (e.g., Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System) that typically assess attitudes and behaviors of young people have not included a place for trans youth to self-identify (Winter & Conway, 2011). In addition, knowledge about gender identity and trans health is very low among health providers (counselors, medical doctors, etc.), translating to inadequate or nonexistent health care access (Bockting, Robinson, Benner, & Scheltema, 2004). These deficits in trans competency became more relevant for the counseling profession, because for the first time the most recent Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People (World Professional Association of Transgender Health, 2011) has included master's-level counselors as potential providers for writing letters for hormone replacement therapy and other trans-related surgeries. Recently, ACA endorsed the Competencies for Counseling with Transgender Clients (2010), which grounded counselor training competencies in strength-based, feminist, multicultural, and social justice theories. However, the focus of this document was primarily on trans adults, so there continues to be very little information about the resilience trans youth have developed to resist trans prejudice (i.e., discrimination against trans people) and adultism (the system of oppression where adults hold greater power regarding decision making in their lives than do young people; Bell, 2003). The purpose of this study was to explore the supports of and challenges to resilience that trans youth experience in their everyday lived experiences. We defined resilience as the strategies and contexts that assist trans youth to navigate life stressors related to their gender identity and/ or gender expression with success (Hartling, 2004; Mizcock & Lewis, 2008; Werner, 1995). * Challenges to Trans Youth Resilience To understand what helps trans youth develop resilience--what helps them "bounce back" from adversity (Reivich & Shatte, 2002)--to societal discrimination, it is important to understand the many challenges that trans youth currently face. Despite the efforts of national advocacy groups (e.g., National Center for Transgender Equality [NCTE]) that have helped to develop positive portrayals of and education about trans people in media and other contexts, many societal barriers still exist in a variety of areas that directly affect a trans person's quality of life. These barriers may reside in social and family structures, employment discrimination, health care access, or schools. The detrimental effects of these societal barriers can often put trans youth at risk for dropping out of school, running away from home, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and becoming homeless (Grossman & D'Augelli, 2006; Singh, Hays, & Watson, 2011). Furthermore, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (Grant et al., 2011) reported that 78% of trans children in grades K-12 reported some form of harassment related to their gender identity and expression, 35% of the children reported incidences of physical violence, and 12% of the children reported sexual violence. Other challenges trans youth face include obtaining satisfactory medical care, instead encountering physicians' negative beliefs (Kitts, 2010), refusal of care, and a general lack of knowledge (Grant et al. …