Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Wright State University, 2020, School of Professional Psychology

Researchers have found that familial support can be a vital protective factor for young transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals as they navigate gender transition, and that a lack of familial support can put children at an increased risk of negative health and mental health outcomes. However, many adults have limited understanding of TGD identities, and may not know how to support their TGD children. Families adjusting to a child's gender identity disclosure may seek educational resources to help them understand their child's experience and process their own feelings/reactions. Therefore, the current project sought to identify and critically review existing, publicly available educational resources for families of TGD youth, and to provide recommendations for the development of future resources. An online search identified nine educational resources aimed at helping families of TGD youth increase their knowledge of transgender issues and skills for supporting their loved ones. The identifying features of the resources were compiled, organized into a table, and discussed. A thematic analysis of the content within these resources identified 26 themes and 14 sub-themes. The results of the thematic analysis were organized into a table and discussed in the context of current research. Recommendations for development of future affirming resources are provided which includes a proposed outline. Limitations included the limitation in scope of the project, such that an analysis of the content of non-affirming resources was not included, and the results of this analysis could not immediately be applied to the development of a new resource.

Committee: Michelle Vaughan Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Cheryl Meyer J.D., Ph.D. (Committee Member); Caprice Lambert Psy.D., IMFT (Committee Member) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Gender; Glbt Studies; Mental Health; Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Psychology/Clinical

The transgender community is widely discriminated against for not conforming to cultural expectations of how gender is experienced and portrayed. Living in continuously oppressive social conditions threatens transgender young adults' emotional and mental well-being, as well as their academic success. Colleges and universities are increasing their efforts to create safe and inclusive environments for gender diverse individuals in higher education. Transgender students' viewpoints are critically important in helping universities make informed, sensitive, and meaningful solutions to the systems level barriers that transgender students encounter on campus. The present qualitative study examined the lived experiences of 11 transgender and gender diverse university students regarding various aspects of university life. Transgender students also discussed their viewpoints on and experiences with advocating for social change related to gender diversity issues on campus. Through the qualitative analysis of in-person interviews, eight themes were identified for what aspects of campus life participants desired to be changed in order to improve the campus climate for the transgender community. Findings also provide insights into students' personal beliefs about advocacy efforts related to transgender issues. Implications of the findings for future research and advocacy efforts are discussed.

Committee: Catherine Stein Ph.D. (Advisor); Dryw Dworsky Ph.D. (Committee Member); Craig Vickio Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Education; Gender; Gender Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Psychology; Social Research; Womens Studies

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

Gender diverse individuals experience a multitude of oppressive interactions within our society and receive incessant messages of invalidation, oppression, and aggression. These chronic stressors have been shown to increase the risk of developing disordered eating behaviors within this population. The current study aims to explore how internalized transphobia may affect the development of disordered eating behavior as viewed through the Minority Stress Framework. This study explored the lived experience of being gender diverse in our society and how this may relate to the development of disordered eating behavior while also investigating protective factors. This study utilized a qualitative phenomenological methodology, recruiting seven gender diverse adults over the age of 18 who exhibited disordered eating behaviors. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Transgender Identity Survey (Bockting et al., 2020), followed by a semistructured exploratory interview to gain narrative data directly from trans people, a population known to experience internalized transphobia (Bockting, 2015). Chronic body image struggles, low self-esteem, trauma history, and harmful expectations related to gender expression appeared as the major contributing factors to the development of disordered eating behaviors. These harmful influences appeared to hinder the ability of multiple participants in their exploration of their gender identity. Gender-affirming care, meaningful activities, community, and affirming clothing emerged as the major protective factors in the lives of the participants. The contributions toward the field of gender studies gleaned from this study include aiding psychologists in developing or applying preventative measures to reduce the risk of disordered eating in gender diverse individuals, as well as in better understanding and appreciating the complexities of gender diverse adults' experiences.

Committee: Karen Meteyer PhD (Committee Chair); Kate Evarts PsyD (Committee Member); Kathi Borden PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Gender; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Health; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Psychology/Clinical

This short-term longitudinal project investigated whether transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adults who currently report greater parental psychological and psychospiritual (i.e., religious/spiritual one-upmanship) maltreatment by their parents experienced greater future psychological and relational distress, and whether greater positive and negative religious and spiritual coping (RS coping) with both types of parental verbal maltreatment buffers or exacerbates, respectively, TGD individuals' psychological adjustment over time. This study included 76 TGD individuals (34.5% transgender female, 25.0% nonbinary, 21.1% genderfluid, 10.5% transgender male, 9.2% other) who completed questionnaires at two time points four months apart. Experiencing greater psychological maltreatment at Time 1 from a parent or parents significantly predicted more depressive symptoms (β=.50, p<.001), more anxiety symptoms (β=.31, p<.05), less relationship satisfaction with parents (β=-.52, p<.001), and less needs satisfaction from parents (β=-.41, p<.05) at Time 2 controlling for Time 1 levels on outcomes. Additionally, greater positive RS coping at Time 1 predicted fewer anxiety symptoms (β=-.38, p<.05) and greater relationship satisfaction with at least one parent (β=.44, p<.05) at Time 2, whereas greater negative RS coping longitudinally predicted greater depressive symptoms (β=.47, p<.001). Using quantitative data, this study demonstrates that TGD individuals can continue to experience parental psychological maltreatment even after becoming a legal adult, such experiences can lead to poorer psychosocial adjustment, and highlights the the importance of examining specific RS factors as differential predictors of mental health outcomes for TGD individuals.

Committee: Annette Mahoney Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Meagan Docherty Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joshua Grubbs Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lauren Maziarz Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Nursing

Transgender and gender diverse individuals (TGD), those whose gender identity is incongruent with their sex assigned at birth, experience significantly disproportionate rates of minority stress and suicide. While growing, the body of research examining the relationships between minority stress and suicide, particularly within TGD groups, remains in its infancy. Thus, it is imperative researchers identify population-specific factors for the development of effective prevention strategies. Established research in the area of TGD suicide often focuses on adolescents (12-18 years old) or adults (18+ years old), infrequently identifying the distinct group of young adults (18-24 years old). As the adult age group most often demonstrating the highest risk for suicide, young adults cannot continue to be overlooked in suicide research. Further, though many research agendas include the social determinants of health, studies inadequately incorporate measurement of minority stress that is inclusive of the socioenvironmental contexts through which these experiences occur and those contexts most proximal to the individual (family, school, religious/spiritual community, and work). Thus, this dissertation aims to advance the science of suicide among TGD young adults by elucidating the associations of sociodemographic variables, context-specific, and cumulative microsystem minority stress experiences with suicide outcomes. The goal of the study is to characterize suicidality among TGD young adults using an approach that integrates sociodemographic and minority stress factors with an ecological systems perspective. The primary aims are to: (1) summarize the established relationships between contextual minority stress factors and TGD young adult suicide outcomes, (2a) examine the associations between sociodemographic factors and 12-month and lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempt (SA) among TGD young adults, (2b) examine the associations of sociodemographic (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jodi Ford (Advisor) Subjects: Mental Health; Nursing

Specialist in Education, Miami University, 2018, School Psychology

Transgender/gender diverse students report experiences of feeling unsafe in school due to their gender identity and expression (Greytak, Kosciw, & Boesen, 2013). School support personnel (e.g., school psychologists, counselors, and social workers) are well positioned to collaborate with stakeholders to promote a safe and supportive environment for these students. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with support personnel in an urban Midwestern school district, researchers gained insight on participants' perceptions of work with transgender/gender diverse students. Findings suggest that 5 out of 7 participants who perceived themselves as prepared to provide support services to transgender/gender diverse students actively supported their students, worked with them to navigate family situations and sex-segregated facilities, and have attended specific professional development. Despite participants' perceived preparedness, they face challenges such as navigating systems-level policies. Findings suggest that more professional development is warranted to improve how school support personnel address transgender/gender diverse students' needs.

Committee: Erin Harper (Committee Chair); Amity Noltemeyer (Committee Member); Katherine Kuvalanka (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; School Counseling

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Leadership and Change

A group of diverse women from various ethnic, religious, socio-economic and generations were brought together over the course of four months to determine if the Immunity to Change (ITC) process (Kegan & Lahey, 2009) would create bridging social capital as well as individual change. The group sessions included a process of assigned readings, discussions, and completion of ITC maps allowing women to reveal their identities and journeys through the sharing of their personal narratives. As a result, many experienced perception transformation regarding issues of gender, leadership, race, and class. The dissertation explores topics of power and privilege, relational leadership, and relational cultural theory in women. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Richard McGuigan PhD (Committee Member); Judith Jordan PhD (Other) Subjects: Gender Studies; Organization Theory; Psychology; Sociology