Teachers dealing with non-conformity: Development of the attitudes toward childhood gender identity questionnaire for educational settings

Abstract

Valid and reliable measures to evaluate teachers’ attitudes towards transgender and gender nonconforming students are lacking. Therefore, we developed the Attitudes toward Childhood Gender Identity Questionnaire for Teachers (ACGIQ-T). We analyzed data from 358 Spanish teachers (84.5% women). A CFA supported a 13-item version of the questionnaire with three factors (71% of the variance explained): Cross-gender roles in leisure/friendship; Cross-gender-typical behaviors and Cross-gender feelings/expressions. Cronbach´s alpha values were over 0.82. Regarding concurrent validity, women and feminine individuals were more likely to approve cross-gender behaviors. Associations of ACGIQ-T factors with other non-conformity roles were found, and the perception of cross-gender behaviors as problematic was associated with willingness to facilitate transitions of children and adolescents. Implications for the educational field are discussed.