TY - JOUR
T1 - Responding to Children’s Diverse Gender Expression
T2 - Validation of a Parent-Report Measure of Gender-Related Conditional Regard
AU - Seager van Dyk, Ilana
AU - Shao, Jianmin
AU - Sohn, Lucas
AU - Smiley, Patricia A.
AU - Olson, Kristina R.
AU - Borelli, Jessica L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Conditional regard
KW - gender
KW - measurement
KW - parenting
KW - transgender
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U2 - 10.1080/1550428X.2021.1931615
DO - 10.1080/1550428X.2021.1931615
M3 - Article
SN - 1550-428X
VL - 17
SP - 482
EP - 500
JO - Journal of GLBT Family Studies
JF - Journal of GLBT Family Studies
IS - 5
ER -