Psychological consequences of medical transition in transgender youth

项目总结/摘要 跨性别青年比他们的顺性别青年经历更高水平的精神疾病（即，非变性人） 同龄人一个被认为是导致这些高精神疾病率的原因是跨性别青年的不和谐 他们的身体和外表之间的经验，一方面，他们的性别身份，另一方面。 医学组织建议，内分泌干预-特别是青春期抑制和 激素疗法-可以通过阻止性别的发展来改善跨性别青年的心理健康- 不一致的第二性征和产生性别一致的第二性征， 分别然而，美国各地的立法者最近提出了禁止跨性别青年的法案 从获得青春期抑制和激素治疗，声称这些干预措施不是 心理上有益。迄今为止，已有五项研究纵向研究了一个或多个因素之间的关系。 这两种干预措施和跨性别青年的心理健康。然而，这些研究相对 小样本，没有一个能够隔离内分泌干预的影响，没有一个包括一个 顺性对照组，没有人检查内分泌干预的机制， 可以改善心理健康。本研究的目的有两个：（1）考察 性别肯定的内分泌干预和跨性别青年的心理健康之间的关系，并比较 接受性别肯定内分泌干预的跨性别青年的心理健康轨迹 （2）探讨内分泌与非内分泌的关系及其机制。 跨性别青年的干预和心理健康。为了实现这些目标，我将衡量心理健康 （焦虑和抑郁，以及自尊）和身体形象（不满，监督， 人格解体和身份-外观一致性）在三个时间点（青春期抑制前， 青春期抑制和激素治疗后）在大样本中（青春期抑制n=204， 激素治疗），以及两个对照组（兄弟姐妹，n=122，和无关 cisgender青年，n=204）。这项研究将使我能够确定是否内分泌干预可能有助于 减少或消除跨性别和顺性别青年之间的心理健康差距。我来指挥 在普林斯顿大学人类多样性实验室的研究，从实验室的PI，克里斯蒂娜博士指导 奥尔森（赞助商），谁运行跨青年项目，世界上最大的跨性别青年的研究，谁在社会上 在很小的时候就变性了我还将接受Katie McLaughlin博士（合作者）的培训， 哈佛大学发展心理病理学专家罗宾·戈米拉博士（顾问）， 普林斯顿大学的专家和罗格斯大学的儿科内分泌学家伊恩马歇尔博士（顾问）。这 奖学金将加深我的发展，临床心理学的知识，扩大我的方法论 工具箱，并使我能够建立一个强大的出版记录。

Project Summary/Abstract Transgender youth experience higher levels of mental illness than their cisgender (i.e., non-transgender) peers. One proposed contributor to these high rates of mental illness is the discordance transgender youth experience between their bodies and appearances, on one hand, and their gender identities, on the other. Medical organizations have suggested that endocrine interventions—specifically puberty suppression and hormone therapy—can improve mental health in transgender youth by halting the development of gender- incongruent secondary sex characteristics and producing gender-congruent secondary sex characteristics, respectively. Yet legislators throughout the US have recently introduced bills that would ban transgender youth from accessing puberty suppression and hormone therapy, asserting that these interventions are not psychologically beneficial. Five studies to date have longitudinally examined the relationship between one or both of these interventions and mental health in transgender youth. However, these studies have had relatively small samples, none have been able to isolate the effects of endocrine interventions, none have included a cisgender comparison group, and none have examined the mechanisms by which endocrine interventions might improve mental health. The goal of the proposed research is twofold: (1) To examine the relationship between gender-affirming endocrine interventions and mental health in transgender youth and compare the mental health trajectories of transgender youth undergoing gender-affirming endocrine interventions to those of their cisgender peers; and (2) To explore the mechanisms underlying the relationship between endocrine interventions and mental health in transgender youth. To achieve these goals, I will measure mental health (anxiety and depression, as well as self-esteem) and body image (dissatisfaction, surveillance, depersonalization, and identity-appearance congruence) at three timepoints (before puberty suppression, after puberty suppression, and after hormone therapy) in a large sample (n=204 for puberty suppression, n=188 for hormone therapy) of transgender youth, as well as in two comparison groups (siblings, n=122, and unrelated cisgender youth, n=204). This research will allow me to determine whether endocrine interventions might help to reduce or eliminate mental health disparities between transgender and cisgender youth. I will conduct this research within the Human Diversity Lab at Princeton University, with mentorship from the lab’s PI, Dr. Kristina Olson (Sponsor), who runs the TransYouth Project, the world’s largest study of transgender youth who socially transitioned at an early age. I will also receive training from Dr. Katie McLaughlin (Collaborator), a developmental psychopathology expert at Harvard University, Dr. Robin Gomila (Consultant), a statistics expert at Princeton, and Dr. Ian Marshall (Consultant), a pediatric endocrinologist at Rutgers University. This fellowship will deepen my knowledge of developmental, clinical psychology, expand my methodological toolbox, and enable me to establish a strong publication record.