TY - JOUR
T1 - School Climate for Transgender Youth
T2 - A Mixed Method Investigation of Student Experiences and School Responses
AU - McGuire, Jenifer K.
AU - Anderson, Charles R.
AU - Toomey, Russell B.
AU - Russell, Stephen T.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Transgender youth experience negative school environments and may not benefit directly from interventions defined to support Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) youth. This study utilized a multi-method approach to consider the issues that transgender students encounter in school environments. Using data from two studies, survey data (total n = 2260, 68 transgender youth) from study 1 and focus groups (n = 35) from study 2, we examine transgender youth's experience of school harassment, school strategies implemented to reduce harassment, the protective role of supportive school personnel, and individual responses to harassment, including dropping out and changing schools. In both studies, we found that school harassment due to transgender identity was pervasive, and this harassment was negatively associated with feelings of safety. When schools took action to reduce harassment, students reported greater connections to school personnel. Those connections were associated with greater feelings of safety. The indirect effects of school strategies to reduce harassment on feelings of safety through connection to adults were also significant. Focus group data illuminate specific processes schools can engage in to benefit youth, and how the youth experience those interventions.
AB - Transgender youth experience negative school environments and may not benefit directly from interventions defined to support Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) youth. This study utilized a multi-method approach to consider the issues that transgender students encounter in school environments. Using data from two studies, survey data (total n = 2260, 68 transgender youth) from study 1 and focus groups (n = 35) from study 2, we examine transgender youth's experience of school harassment, school strategies implemented to reduce harassment, the protective role of supportive school personnel, and individual responses to harassment, including dropping out and changing schools. In both studies, we found that school harassment due to transgender identity was pervasive, and this harassment was negatively associated with feelings of safety. When schools took action to reduce harassment, students reported greater connections to school personnel. Those connections were associated with greater feelings of safety. The indirect effects of school strategies to reduce harassment on feelings of safety through connection to adults were also significant. Focus group data illuminate specific processes schools can engage in to benefit youth, and how the youth experience those interventions.
KW - Harassment
KW - School climate
KW - Sexual minority
KW - Transgender
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U2 - 10.1007/s10964-010-9540-7
DO - 10.1007/s10964-010-9540-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 20428933
AN - SCOPUS:77955341243
SN - 0047-2891
VL - 39
SP - 1175
EP - 1188
JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence
IS - 10
ER -