About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 22. Social Relationships

Abstract

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Compared to their cisgender peers, transgender and nonbinary (TNB) youth face disproportionality high rates of poor mental health outcomes (The Trevor Project, 2023). Having interpersonal support from family, friends, and/or other TNB people has been found to be highly beneficial to the mental health of TNB youth and adults (Bockting et al., 2016; Brown et al., 2020; Grossman et al., 2021; Katz-Wise et al., 2018; Kiekens & Mereish 2021; McConnell et al., 2016; Pariseau et al., 2019; Puckett et al., 2019; Rimmer et al., 2023; Tan et al., 2020; The Trevor Project, 2023; Weinhardt et al., 2019; White Hughto et al., 2015). Unfortunately, many TNB youth do not feel supported by their family of origin and often face high rates of family rejection and may face family violence (Bockting et al., 2016; The Trevor Project, 2023; White Hughto et al., 2015). Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown found many TNB youth stuck in homes where they felt that they were not supported, were frequently misgendered, and could not live authentically (Jones et al., 2021; Paceley et al., 2021). Considering that research has shown that interpersonal relationships can serve as both a protective and a risk factor for TNB youth, this study aimed to examine if the protective factor of friend support can buffer the negative effects of the distal stressor of family rejection on the mental health of TNB youth (Meyer, 2003).
The sample for this study consisted of 317 TNB youth between the ages of 13 and 22 (M = 18.64). The majority of the sample identified as nonbinary (77.29%) and White (60.88%). See Table 1 for demographic information and descriptive statistics. Linear regression models were run to test the direct effects of family rejection and friend support on mental health outcomes with a separate analysis run to examine if friend support moderated the relationship between family rejection and mental health outcomes. Additional analysis examined if nonbinary gender identity and age moderated these relationships.
Family rejection was significantly associated with higher levels of depressive (B = 0.35, p < 0.001) and anxiety (B = 0.53, p < 0.001) symptoms. Conversely, friend support was significantly associated with lower levels of depressive (B = -0.24, p < 0.001) and anxiety (B = -0.10, p = 0.04) symptoms. Friend support did not moderate the association between family rejection and depressive (B = -0.04, p = 0.38) or anxiety symptoms (B = -0.02, p = 0.69). Neither age nor gender identity moderated any of these relationships. See Table 2 for analysis results.
While having close and supportive friends is beneficial for TNB youth’s mental health, the findings of this study suggest that benefits of these relationships do not make up for the harm associated with family rejection. Researchers should continue to investigate ways to decrease the experiences of family rejection among TNB youth and explore protective factors that may be beneficial for TNB youth navigating family rejection.

Author information

Author	Role
Dr. Sydney Hainsworth, University of Minnesota	Presenting author
Russell B. Toomey, The University of Arizona	Non-presenting author
Roberto L. Abreu, University of Florida	Non-presenting author
Zhenqiang Zhao, Fordham University	Non-presenting author

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