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Parents of trans and gender diverse (herein ‘trans’) children experience additional challenges in their parenting role relative to parents of cisgender children. Understanding and enhancing parents’ empowerment is a promising approach to support both parents and children. We aimed to develop an empowerment scale specific to parents of trans children, grounded in parents’ lived experiences.
The existing literature exploring the experiences of parenting a trans child tends toward reporting the challenging aspects of the parental journey. Studies also reference positive experiences such as enhanced parent-child connectedness and affirmation of personal values. Limited dedicated research focused on the positive aspects of parenting a trans child exists. We aimed to better understand positive parental experiences accordingly.
There are well-described sex-based differences in how the immune system operates. In particular, cisgender (cis) females have a more easily activated immune system; associated with an increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases and adverse events following vaccinations. Conversely, cis males have a higher threshold for immune activation, and are more prone to certain infectious diseases, such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Parental support is strongly correlated with protective factors for trans youth yet most experience parental rejection or ambivalence regarding their gender. Many parents report a desire to support their child but indicate lack of understanding and support as key barriers. We aimed to develop a nuanced understanding of the challenges and facilitators experienced by Australian parents in developing understanding, support and acceptance of their child’s gender and their needs to do so.
Parental support is strongly correlated with protective factors for trans youth, however, most experience unsupportive parental attitudes. We aimed to better understand how youth perceive parental reactions to their gender identity disclosure and what they consider to be barriers to, and facilitators of, support.
The past three decades have seen a major shift in our understanding of the strong links between autism and identity. These developments have called for careful consideration of the language used to describe autism.
School toilets have been identified by sexuality and gender diverse (SGD) students as the least safe spaces in educational institutions. They are sites of verbal, physical and sexual victimisation.
SPARX is a form of computerized cognitive behavioural therapy in serious game format funded via the Ministry of Health to be freely available in New Zealand. At registration users identify themselves as male, female, transgender or intersex. We aimed to establish whether adolescent transgender users of SPARX, compared to adolescent male and female users, were more likely to have high mental health needs at baseline and were more likely to complete SPARX. We also sought to determine changes in transgender adolescents' depressive symptoms after using SPARX.
Recent research highlights an overlap of gender diversity and autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, data on individuals who are trans and also on the autism spectrum are largely from clinical samples and may not be representative of individuals who are trans with ASD in the general population. In addition, there is scant literature on the mental health of these individuals and their experiences in accessing gender-affirming care.
"Psychotic-Like Experiences" (PLEs) are common in the general population. While they are usually transient and resolve spontaneously, they can be distressing and signify increased risk for later psychosis or other psychopathology. It is important to investigate factors associated with PLEs which could be targeted to reduce their prevalence and impact. Males and females are known to experience PLEs differently, but any gender differences in the relationships between PLEs and other, potentially targetable, factors are currently unknown.