• Date: Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023
• Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET
• Location: Baldy Hall, Room 479 and virtually via Zoom

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth, plus youth who identify with other sexual or gender minority identities (LGBTQ+ youth), are at a disproportionate risk for experiencing interpersonal violence and mental health concerns. However, only a small proportion of this research has focused specifically on youth who identify as a gender minority, including transgender (i.e., individuals whose gender identity or expression is not congruent with traits culturally associated with the sex assigned at birth) and gender expansive adolescents (i.e., individuals whose gender identity or expression is beyond the purported male-female gender binary).

This presentation will highlight findings from four research studies that aimed to address this gap in the literature. Utilizing a statewide survey with large samples of transgender and gender-expansive adolescents, we examined the prevalence of bullying and dating violence victimization by gender identity, examined the impact of victimization on mental health outcomes, explored disparities across grade levels, and explored the protective role of school climate among adolescents who experienced victimization. This presentation will highlight key implications of this research and provide future research, violence prevention programming and policy directions.