title: Mental health of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Inequities, minority stress, and protective factors

authors: Tan, Kyle K. H.

subjects: transgender

abstract: In 2018, the Counting Ourselves: Aotearoa/New Zealand Trans and Non-Binary Health Survey recruited a total of 1,178 transgender people aged 14 or older (Mage = 29.5) who lived in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This comprehensive survey included mental health measures from Aotearoa/New Zealand population-based surveys, as well as questions specific to experiences of being a transgender person, which were either adopted from overseas transgender surveys or developed in consultation with the project’s community advisory group. The study recruited participants using various recruitment techniques, such as advertising on social media (e.g., Facebook), making connections with transgender community organisations, and reaching out to the network of academic researchers and health professionals working in the field of transgender health.  
This thesis comprises two review studies and three empirical studies that report findings from the Counting Ourselves survey. Informed by the health equity perspective of LGBTQ-affirmative psychology, these studies fill in the literature gap related to transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand by (1) critically reviewing existing literature on Gender minority stress theory, and putting forward a framework that aligns with the understanding of cisgenderism as a marginalising prejudice for transgender people; (2) drawing on existing transgender research in Aotearoa/New Zealand to provide an overview of the social determinants of mental health for transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand; (3) examining the extent of mental health inequities affecting transgender people relative to the Aotearoa/New Zealand general population across all age groups; (4) exploring the predictive power of transgender-specific enacted stigma and protective factors on mental health outcomes of transgender people; and (5) using an inductive thematic analysis to analyse qualitative comments from an open-ended question to understand the nuances of mental health indicators affecting transgender people.
Findings from empirical studies noted large inequities in mental health between transgender people and the Aotearoa/New Zealand general population, and the differences were especially prominent for those in younger age groups. Enacted stigma or overt experiences of gender minority stress (e.g., discrimination, harassment, and violence experienced for being transgender) were associated with elevated rates of mental health problems, while protective factors such as support and connection from friends, family members, neighbourhood, and transgender communities were associated with better mental health. Besides gender minority stress experiences, qualitative analysis revealed other mental health determinants that were important for transgender people, such as the ability to affirm their gender, equitable access to gender-affirming care and mental healthcare services, and support from families and the wider community.
Overall, this thesis addresses important literature gaps by providing insight into the associations of enacted stigma and protective factors with mental health inequities among transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The reported findings have crucial public and healthcare implications, which include the need to promote anti-discriminatory practices against transgender people and trans-cultural competency in healthcare settings. Furthermore, this thesis evidenced a need to move beyond pathologising approach that views transgender people as “deficit” when understanding their mental health experiences. Instead, this thesis highlights the importance of examining enacted stigma related to cisgenderism and social determinants of mental health for transgender people.

text: Mental health of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Inequities, minority stress, and protective factors In 2018, the Counting Ourselves: Aotearoa/New Zealand Trans and Non-Binary Health Survey recruited a total of 1,178 transgender people aged 14 or older (Mage = 29.5) who lived in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This comprehensive survey included mental health measures from Aotearoa/New Zealand population-based surveys, as well as questions specific to experiences of being a transgender person, which were either adopted from overseas transgender surveys or developed in consultation with the project’s community advisory group. The study recruited participants using various recruitment techniques, such as advertising on social media (e.g., Facebook), making connections with transgender community organisations, and reaching out to the network of academic researchers and health professionals working in the field of transgender health.  
This thesis comprises two review studies and three empirical studies that report findings from the Counting Ourselves survey. Informed by the health equity perspective of LGBTQ-affirmative psychology, these studies fill in the literature gap related to transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand by (1) critically reviewing existing literature on Gender minority stress theory, and putting forward a framework that aligns with the understanding of cisgenderism as a marginalising prejudice for transgender people; (2) drawing on existing transgender research in Aotearoa/New Zealand to provide an overview of the social determinants of mental health for transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand; (3) examining the extent of mental health inequities affecting transgender people relative to the Aotearoa/New Zealand general population across all age groups; (4) exploring the predictive power of transgender-specific enacted stigma and protective factors on mental health outcomes of transgender people; and (5) using an inductive thematic analysis to analyse qualitative comments from an open-ended question to understand the nuances of mental health indicators affecting transgender people.
Findings from empirical studies noted large inequities in mental health between transgender people and the Aotearoa/New Zealand general population, and the differences were especially prominent for those in younger age groups. Enacted stigma or overt experiences of gender minority stress (e.g., discrimination, harassment, and violence experienced for being transgender) were associated with elevated rates of mental health problems, while protective factors such as support and connection from friends, family members, neighbourhood, and transgender communities were associated with better mental health. Besides gender minority stress experiences, qualitative analysis revealed other mental health determinants that were important for transgender people, such as the ability to affirm their gender, equitable access to gender-affirming care and mental healthcare services, and support from families and the wider community.
Overall, this thesis addresses important literature gaps by providing insight into the associations of enacted stigma and protective factors with mental health inequities among transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The reported findings have crucial public and healthcare implications, which include the need to promote anti-discriminatory practices against transgender people and trans-cultural competency in healthcare settings. Furthermore, this thesis evidenced a need to move beyond pathologising approach that views transgender people as “deficit” when understanding their mental health experiences. Instead, this thesis highlights the importance of examining enacted stigma related to cisgenderism and social determinants of mental health for transgender people.

year: 2021

title: Shopping in a narrow field: Cross-media news repertories in New Zealand

authors: Hight, Craig

subjects: news repertoires

abstract: This article reports on the New Zealand case study within a larger project investigating cross-media news repertoires within (and across) national audiences. Six key news media repertoires emerged in this case study; heavy news consumers; hybrid browsers; digital browsers; ambivalent networkers; mainstream multiplatformers; and casual and connected). Despite a range of news media outlets available within New Zealand, particularly across digital platforms, participants consistently noted a relatively narrow social, cultural and political discursive field for news content in the country. Within this context, the news repertoires identified within this case study highlighted the high value placed by news consumers on national daily newspapers (print and online), and the continued salience of television and radio news broadcasting for some audience segments. But findings also offered a snapshot of the ways these are being supplemented or replaced, for some audience segments, by digital news outlets (even as these also generated dissatisfaction from many participants).

text: Shopping in a narrow field: Cross-media news repertories in New Zealand This article reports on the New Zealand case study within a larger project investigating cross-media news repertoires within (and across) national audiences. Six key news media repertoires emerged in this case study; heavy news consumers; hybrid browsers; digital browsers; ambivalent networkers; mainstream multiplatformers; and casual and connected). Despite a range of news media outlets available within New Zealand, particularly across digital platforms, participants consistently noted a relatively narrow social, cultural and political discursive field for news content in the country. Within this context, the news repertoires identified within this case study highlighted the high value placed by news consumers on national daily newspapers (print and online), and the continued salience of television and radio news broadcasting for some audience segments. But findings also offered a snapshot of the ways these are being supplemented or replaced, for some audience segments, by digital news outlets (even as these also generated dissatisfaction from many participants).

year: 2017

title: Where to from here: Charting a way forward for language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: May, Stephen

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern nation-states is predicated, is becoming increasingly hard to defend and maintain.  At the demographic level, nation-states comprise (indeed, have always comprised) a variety of different cultural and linguistic groups.  These include, alongside majority populations, indigenous peoples and other national minorities, as well as migrant communities.  This long-standing demographic diversity has also increased markedly in modern times, particularly with patterns of increased migration and the forced relocation of refugees.  These demographic changes have, in turn, placed increasing pressure on the public policies of nation-states which have historically been inimical or formal recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity.  As a result, nation-states are having to address more seriously the 'politics of multiculturalism' - that is, the degree to which the languages and cultures of so called 'minority' groups can be (or should be) accorded recognition in the public domain.  This also necessarily involves addressing directly issues of bilingualism and multilingualism and their implications for language and education policy and practice.

This paper explores these broader debates in specific relation to Aotearoa/New Zealand which itself has seen a marked increase in migration, and attendant cultural and linguistic diversity, over the last ten years.  Debates on multiculturalism, and their implications for public policy, are contentious enough in themselves, but are further complicated in Aotearoa/New Zealand by prior bicultural commitments to Maori.  Can multicultural/multilingual commitments be extended without compromising, or undermining biculturalism?  What are the specific implications of this potential dialectic between biculturalism and multiculturalism for the further development of language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand?  The paper will attempt to develop a set of general principles as a basis for moving these debates forward, drawing on discussions of language rights, and language planning and policy, as well as recent developments in international law.  Specific implications for language education will also be discussed.

text: Where to from here: Charting a way forward for language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern nation-states is predicated, is becoming increasingly hard to defend and maintain.  At the demographic level, nation-states comprise (indeed, have always comprised) a variety of different cultural and linguistic groups.  These include, alongside majority populations, indigenous peoples and other national minorities, as well as migrant communities.  This long-standing demographic diversity has also increased markedly in modern times, particularly with patterns of increased migration and the forced relocation of refugees.  These demographic changes have, in turn, placed increasing pressure on the public policies of nation-states which have historically been inimical or formal recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity.  As a result, nation-states are having to address more seriously the 'politics of multiculturalism' - that is, the degree to which the languages and cultures of so called 'minority' groups can be (or should be) accorded recognition in the public domain.  This also necessarily involves addressing directly issues of bilingualism and multilingualism and their implications for language and education policy and practice.

This paper explores these broader debates in specific relation to Aotearoa/New Zealand which itself has seen a marked increase in migration, and attendant cultural and linguistic diversity, over the last ten years.  Debates on multiculturalism, and their implications for public policy, are contentious enough in themselves, but are further complicated in Aotearoa/New Zealand by prior bicultural commitments to Maori.  Can multicultural/multilingual commitments be extended without compromising, or undermining biculturalism?  What are the specific implications of this potential dialectic between biculturalism and multiculturalism for the further development of language and education policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand?  The paper will attempt to develop a set of general principles as a basis for moving these debates forward, drawing on discussions of language rights, and language planning and policy, as well as recent developments in international law.  Specific implications for language education will also be discussed.

year: 2002-01-01