Abstract
This paper aims to summarise peer-reviewed literature into the mental health of transgender young people within a secondary schooling environment. A scoping review was conducted using literature across four databases. The search was limited to English language peer-reviewed articles that reported upon the association between school factors and the mental health outcomes of transgender young people in secondary schools. The review resulted in seven relevant studies, which reported numerous school factors related to mental health outcomes for transgender young people. The factors that related to mental health of transgender young people in schools include peer victimisation and bullying, perceived safety and a sense of school belonging or connectedness. Clinical and practical implications are provided for policy makers, educational institutions and school mental healthcare professionals. It is recommended that future research is needed to investigate the mental health services provided within the schooling environment.
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Notes
Scare quotations are used here as the term transgender is a contested term that can mean different things to different people. It is an identity category that is not necessarily fixed or stable; thus, the meaning behind this term can be fluid or malleable for different people and communities.
LGBTQ+ is an acronym used to represent multiple non-heteronormative sexualities and gender identities. It stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and the plus sign indicates that this acronym also represents other non-heteronormative identities that do not fall under the identities already stated (GLAAD, 2016).
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Sylvia Pilz for her guidance and knowledge throughout the methodology of this scoping review.
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All authors contributed to the final draft of the manuscript. The conception of the review, material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by GM. KL also contributed to the later stages of the data collection. The first draft of the manuscript was written by GM, and all authors contributed feedback and comments on all versions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Appendix
Appendix
The final terms used for the search were [transgender OR transgender youth OR transgender adolescent* OR transgender teen* OR transgender young people OR transgender young person* OR LGBT* youth OR LGBT* adolescent* OR LGBT* young people OR LGBT* young person* OR trans* youth OR trans* adolescent* OR trans* teen* OR trans* young people OR trans* young person* OR gender diverse youth OR gender diverse adolescent* OR gender diverse teen* OR gender diverse young people OR gender diverse young person* OR non-binary youth OR non-binary adolescent* OR non-binary teen* OR non-binary young people OR non-binary young person*] AND [school* or schools] AND [mental health].
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Mackie, G., Lambert, K. & Patlamazoglou, L. The Mental Health of Transgender Young People in Secondary Schools: A Scoping Review. School Mental Health 13, 13–27 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-020-09403-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-020-09403-9