Abstract

Epidemiological studies suggest that more youth are identifying as gender expansive (e.g., transgender, gender nonconforming) than ever before. However, due to stressors like discrimination, gender minorities remain at significantly higher risk for mental and physical health problems than their cisgender peers. While initial research has shown that parental support of youth’s minority gender identities may be protective, further research is needed regarding specific parenting practices and their impact on children. We propose that parental conditional regard — the selective provision of warmth and esteem when children’s behavior conforms to parental standards or values — may be a critical component of parenting behaviors that predicts maladaptation in gender expansive children. Across three studies involving parents of cisgender and gender expansive children ages 3-15 (Study 1: N = 601, community sample; Study 2: N = 793, parents of gender expansive and cisgender children; Study 3, same sample as in Study 1), we describe the development of a novel measure of parental conditional regard for gender expression and test its validity and reliability. Finally, we demonstrate that conditional regard for gender expression is distinct from existing conditional regard measures, and is uniquely associated with children’s psychopathology.

摘要

流行病学研究表明，越来越多的年轻人认为性别扩张（例如跨性别者、性别不合格者）比以往任何时候都多。然而，由于歧视等压力因素，性别少数群体出现精神和身体健康问题的风险仍然明显高于同性别同龄人。虽然初步研究表明，父母对青少年少数群体性别认同的支持可能具有保护作用，但还需要进一步研究具体的养育做法及其对儿童的影响。我们认为，父母有条件的尊重——当孩子的行为符合父母的标准或价值观时有选择地提供温暖和尊重——可能是父母行为的一个关键组成部分，可以预测性别扩张儿童的适应不良。三项研究涉及 3-15 岁顺性别和性别扩张儿童的父母（研究 1：N  = 601，社区样本；研究 2：N  = 793，性别扩张和顺性别儿童的父母；研究 3，与研究 1 相同的样本），我们描述了一种新的衡量父母有条件考虑性别表达的方法的发展，并测试了其有效性和可靠性。最后，我们证明对性别表达的有条件尊重不同于现有的有条件尊重措施，并且与儿童的精神病理学有着独特的联系。