Interrupted gender transitions: underlying motivations as correlates of psychosocial risks

Abstract

Background Previous research on what is often termed “detransitioning” experiences among transgender and nonbinary individuals has frequently lacked conceptual clarity, failed to differentiate interrupted gender transition experiences by underlying motivations, and failed to examine correlations with psychosocial risks by the various motivations. Aims Utilizing a proposed conceptual framework that captures motivational differences between various interrupted gender transition experiences, this examination seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of these interrupted gender transitions and their associations with psychosocial risks, underscoring the importance of improved conceptual clarity and empirical precision in this body of scholarship. Methods This secondary data analysis of the 2015 US Transgender Study (N = 26,026) examines how three specific interrupted gender transitions (i.e. interpersonal adaptive gender transitions, structural adaptive gender transitions, and gender recalibration) are correlated with a series of lifetime (i.e. suicide attempts and physical relational violence) and recent (i.e. illicit drug use, fear-based avoidance of medical providers, homelessness, and arrests) psychosocial risks. Multivariate models examine the relationships of interest controlling for age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, partner status, education, employment status, and household income. Results Across all six examined risks, we find that interrupted gender transitions due to interpersonal pressure from others (interpersonal adaptive gender transition) and structural barriers facing transgender and nonbinary people (structural adaptive gender transition) are associated with the highest likelihoods of risks. Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) respondents who experience an interrupted gender transition due to a shift in their gender identity from one identity to another identity within the TNB umbrella (gender recalibration) are not significantly different than TNB respondents who had never undergone a gender transition in the first place. Discussion The study’s findings underscore not only the importance of disaggregation of gender transition interruptions by their underlying motivation, but also highlight one other way in which interpersonal and structural transphobia negatively impact the lived experiences of TNB people.