About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 19. Sex, Gender

Abstract

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Social transition is a gender-affirming process in which gender diverse (GD) children and adolescents adopt the name, pronoun, gender expression (clothes/haircut) that match their true gender self (Ehrensaft, 2020). Social transitions foster well-being and adjustment for GD youth (APA, 2015; Horton, 2022; Whyatt-Sames, 2017), however, only about 2-9% of GD individuals experience social transitions during primary or secondary school (Coleman et al., 2022). Prior research is limited by its cross-sectional and retrospective nature (Mackie et al., 2021). Longitudinal studies with GD children in schools are rare (Olson & Gülgöz, 2018) yet critical for understanding children’s experience of social transition at school. Understanding pre-transition characteristics and academic performance of GD children who make social transitions at school is a critical first step for later longitudinal work examining academic and mental health outcomes for students who make social transitions.

We followed a large (n=38,248), ethnically diverse (58% Latine, 35% Black, 7% White/other), multi-cohort sample of children from preschool through 12th grade in a large, urban, public school district in the southeastern U.S. between 2002 and 2020. Students were assessed for cognitive, language and motor skills with the LAP-D (Nehring et al., 1992) and parents and preschool teachers reported on student social skills and behavior problems with the DECA (Lebuffe & Naglieri, 1999) at age 4. Demographic and academic performance data came from administrative school records each year/grade. By determining whether and when a student’s gender changed in the school system’s official student record, we identified 139 GD students (0.004%) who underwent social transition. We asked: 1) How common is social transition, and when does it tend to occur? and 2) To what extent is social gender transition and the timing of transition related to: sex assigned at birth, race, poverty, disability, English language learner (ELL) status, school readiness at age four (cognitive, language, motor, social and behavioral skills), attending a new school at the time of transition, and pre-transition academic performance (GPA, attendance, suspension, math, reading scores). Chi-square, t-tests, correlations, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were run.

A third of students transitioned before 3rd grade (age 8-9), another 30% by 5th grade, another 20% in middle school (G6-8), and another 16% in high school, with a bump in students who transitioned in 9th grade, the first year of high school. Transitions did not systematically co-occur with a switch in school location. Students who transitioned were more likely assigned female at birth (53.2%) than male (46.7%), p < .05. GD children with stronger early language, math, and fine motor skills made the transition earlier in their school careers (r’s with grade transitioned -.18 to -.23, p < .05). There were no group differences in terms of race, poverty, disability, kindergarten suspensions, or ELL status (Table 1). Students who transitioned had stronger early social skills and missed fewer days of school in kindergarten than non-GD students. Social transitions for GD children appear more accessible for students with strong social skills, and those more academically skilled tend to make such transitions earlier.

Author information

Author	Role
Adam Winsler, George Mason University	Presenting author
Vincenzo Bochicchio, University of Calabria	Non-presenting author
Cristiano Scandurra, University of Naploli Federico II	Non-presenting author
Selene Mezzalira, University of Napoli Federico II	Non-presenting author
Benjamin Gallimore, George Mason University	Non-presenting author

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