Social media experiences of transgender and gender diverse youth and their parents

摘要 在美国，超过15万名青少年被认定为跨性别或性别多样性（TGGD）。TGGD 青年人面临心理健康问题的高风险，社会支持对于减轻这一风险至关重要。TGGD 在性别认同方面得到肯定的青年人与一般人一样， 青少年人口。然而，青年得到的肯定和支持可以来自多个地方。 父母和同伴的支持是肯定性别认同的关键因素。初步数据显示， TGGD青年还利用社交媒体平台获得社会支持。特别是，信息 社交媒体的支持可能是性别认同探索和医学知识的重要因素 激素治疗和手术等干预措施。TGGD青年报告遵循流行的社交媒体 内容创作者或“影响者”在各种社交媒体平台上寻找信息和灵感， 从这些人。然而，在TGGD影响者中发现的信息的性质和事实准确性 内容基本上是未知的。TGGD青少年的父母和广大公众都表示担心， 媒体内容可能会对青少年性别认同的形成产生不适当的影响， 年轻人的困惑和不适当的医疗干预要求。然而，TGGD的观点 关于这一问题，青年的意见和看法尚不清楚，父母对与TGGD有关的数字内容的具体看法也不清楚。的 该提案的首要目标是从多个角度研究TGGD影响者内容的现象 包括客观内容分析、青少年主导的质性研究和家长主导的质性研究 查询这项研究的基本原理是，进一步了解的性质，事实的准确性，和青年和 家长对TGGD影响者内容的看法是制定预期指导的第一步， 提供者和媒体扫盲的青年谁确定为TGGD和他们的父母。目标1：执行一个 社交媒体帖子的内容分析，以描述流行的TGGD角色模型，也被称为 影响者，讨论性别认同的发展和性别肯定，通过医疗和非医疗 目标2：使用定性调查和数字提示，确定对以下方面的看法和关切： TGGD影响者在TGGD青少年的父母中创建的社交媒体内容;以及目标3：使用定性 询问和数字提示，确定TGGD青年报告TGGD影响者创建内容的元素 有助于通过医学和非医学手段探索性别认同和性别肯定。 这些目标将通过直接观察TGGD影响者的社交媒体资料来实现， 然后是对TGGD青年的半结构化访谈，参与者在访谈中观察和反思影响者， 内容，以及类似的半结构化采访TGGD青少年的父母。

ABSTRACT Over 150,000 adolescents in the United States identify as transgender or gender diverse (TGGD). TGGD youth are at high risk for mental health problems, and social support is critical for mitigating this risk. TGGD youth who are affirmed in their gender identities have similar rates of mental health concerns as the general population of adolescents. However, the affirmation and support youth receive can come from multiple places. Parental and peer support are crucial factors in affirmation of gender identity. Our preliminary data show that social media platforms are also being used by TGGD youth for social support. In particular, informational support from social media may be an important factor in gender identity exploration and knowledge of medical interventions such as hormonal treatment and surgeries. TGGD youth report following popular social media content creators, or “influencers,” on various social media platforms and finding information and inspiration from these individuals. However, the nature and factual accuracy of information found in TGGD influencer content is largely unknown. Parents of TGGD youth and the public at large have expressed concern that social media content may have undue influence on youths’ gender identity formation, leading to possible gender confusion in youth and inappropriate requests for medical intervention. However, the perspectives of TGGD youth on this topic are unknown, as are specific parental reflections on TGGD-related digital content. The overarching goal of this proposal is to examine the phenomenon of TGGD influencer content from multiple angles including objective content analysis, youth-driven qualitative inquiry, and parent-driven qualitative inquiry. The rationale for this study is that further knowledge of the nature, factual accuracy, and youth and parent perceptions of TGGD influencer content is a first step toward developing anticipatory guidance for providers and media literacy for youth who identify as TGGD and their parents. The aims are: Aim 1: Perform a content analysis of social media posts to describe the ways that popular TGGD role models, also known as influencers, discuss gender identity development and gender affirmation through medical and nonmedical means; Aim 2: Using qualitative inquiry and digital prompts, identify the perceptions of and concerns regarding TGGD influencer-created social media content among parents of TGGD youth; and Aim 3: Using qualitative inquiry and digital prompts, determine elements of TGGD influencer-created content that TGGD youth report are helpful for exploration of gender identity and gender affirmation through medical and nonmedical means. These Aims will be carried out through direct observation of social media profiles of TGGD influencers, followed by semistructured interviews with TGGD youth in which participants view and reflect on influencer content, as well as similar semistructured interviews with parents of TGGD youth.