Longitudinal Family Functioning and Mental Health in Transgender and Nonbinary Youth and Their Families.

Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9214438 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 1062-1024 (Print) Linking ISSN: 10621024 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Child Fam Stud Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE

Publication: 2005- : New York, NY : Springer Science + Business Media
Original Publication: New York : Human Sciences Press, [1992-

This study examined concordance of family members' perspectives of family functioning and mental health across two years in families with transgender and/or nonbinary youth (TNBY). Participants were 89 family members (30 TNBY, age 13-17 years; 44 cisgender caregivers; 15 cisgender siblings, age 14-24 years) from 30 families from the U.S. New England region. Family members completed an online survey every 6-8 months for 5 waves between December 2015 and Feb 2019. Surveys assessed family functioning (quality of communication, satisfaction with family) and the following mental health-related outcomes: depression and anxiety symptoms, non-suicidal self-injury, suicidality, self-esteem, and resilience. Analyses tested concordance of family functioning and mental health across family members. Reports of family functioning changed over time, and family members were not consistently concordant in their reports of family functioning. Caregivers perceived a higher quality family communication than TNBY at all waves and higher than siblings at some waves. Perceptions of family satisfaction did not show a clear pattern between family member types across waves. The greatest concordance of perceived family functioning was between caregivers and siblings and between TNBY and siblings. Across all waves, TNBY reported more severe depression and anxiety symptoms than their caregivers and siblings, and more non-suicidal self-injury than their siblings. Compared to siblings, TNBY reported higher self-esteem, but less resilience. This study highlights opportunities for intervention in clinical work with TNBY and their families. Providers working with families with TNBY should use family systems approaches to support the mental health of all family members.
Competing Interests: Competing interests. Dr. Katz-Wise is a diversity consultant for Paramount Global. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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K99 HD082340 United States HD NICHD NIH HHS; R00 HD082340 United States HD NICHD NIH HHS

Keywords: adolescents; family functioning; mental health; nonbinary; transgender

Date Created: 20240902 Latest Revision: 20240904

20250114

PMC11361712

10.1007/s10826-023-02738-2

39220671