Anticipated Futures Around Gender Identity Development

Mieke B. Thomeer , University of Alabama at Birmingham
Allen J. LeBlanc, San Francisco State University
David Frost, Columbia University
Singh Anneliese, University of Georgia
Bockting Walter, Columbia University

We analyze data from Project AFFIRM—a multi-phase, multi-method study of gender identity development and resilience among transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) populations (N=87)—to ask how they understand their own gender identity development, both in terms of important events in the past and important events in the future. We categorize the 1,418 past and future events identified by the respondents as important for their gender identity development into 12 categories. There were key differences in the distribution of these event categories by sociodemographic characteristics. Further, there were differences in when these events occurred; for example, “rejection and violence” events tended to be identified as important for gender identity development at younger ages and in the past, whereas “community involvement” were more frequently identified at older ages and in the future. We suggest that future models of TGNC identity development look beyond traditional categories to categories identified by respondents themselves.

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 Presented in Session 97. Research on Transgender and Gender Nonbinary/Nonconforming Populations