Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth

The proposed research aimed to amplify the voices and experiences of transgender and gendernonconformingyouth through sandtray and narrative exploration. Transgender and gendernonconformingindividuals are at high risk for homelessness, suicide, depression, discrimination,and other mental and physical health problems (American Psychological Association, 2015;Edwards et al., 2019; Ehrensaft, 2014; Newcomb et al., 2018). There is a lack of researchallowing transgender and gender-nonconforming children and adolescents to describe their livedexperiences. The current study elaborated on the specific experiences of transgender and gendernonconformingyouth within a social-ecological framework to explore how the individualinteracts with relational, community, and societal systems. The qualitative nature of the studyamplified the voices of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. Data was collectedthrough a directive sandtray approach where transgender and gender-nonconforming youthillustrated their journeys in response to various prompts. The prompts spanned the systems levelsper the ecological framework and were informed by the major themes in research targetingtransgender and gender non-conforming individuals. This research has implications for thepsychological care of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals and their families. Thedirective sandtray prompts and stories that were collected add transgender and gender nonconformingyouth's voices to the conversation about how to best meet this population's needs.