Gender-Nonconforming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: School Victimization and Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment, Article Review Example

The purpose of this article review is to critique the research. Gender-Nonconforming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: School Victimization and Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment, by Russell Toomey, Caitlin Ryan, Rafael M. Diaz, Noel A. Card, and Stephen T. Russell. The purpose was to determine “the associations between gender nonconformity, victimization, and adjustment by directly testing the degree to which experiences of school victimization account for the link between adolescent gender nonconformity and young adult well-being.”(Toomey, Ryan, Diaz, Card, Russell, 2010)

The goal of their research was to answer the question if victimization during adolescence affected the psychosocial adjustment in youth and young adults. In developing their research and hypotheses, they used separate research based on both the psychosocial affects and the frequency in victimization accounts of adolescences. “Gender identity refers to the “maleness and femaleness a person feels on the inside; how that identity is projected to the world; and how others mirror that identity back to the individual.”(Toomey, et. al, 2010) At a young age children that do not fit the stereotypes of typical hetero students are victims of discrimination, bullying, and harassment based on their lack of gender conformity. These types of factors on children have lasting effects that are seen throughout their lifetime and in some cases lead to damaging results. Currently there have been too little research done on drawing connections of victimization of gender non-conforming adolescences and their development into adulthood.

Research

Within the research, they chose to study gay, lesbian, transgender, and gender non-conforming school aged adolescents in determining the affects based on peer perceptions, the higher victimization of gender non-conforming boys, and predictability of these victimizations in young adult psychosocial adjustment.(Toomey, et al, 2010) The method the group used in conducting the study was using the sample of data from the Family Acceptance Project’s Young Adult Survey using a total of 245 white, Latino, or a Latino mixed young adults ranging 21 to 25 years old from the San Francisco Bay Area that were out as LGBT during their adolescence. The survey was available in both Spanish and English, and computer or standard pencil and paper formats. (Toomey, et al, 2010) The measures applied to the study included a mixture of gender identification at different phases of their lives, peer perception of gender during adolescence, the level and frequency if any, of victimization during school based on other factors other than gender non-conformity, and the level of life satisfaction in adulthood. (Toomey, et al, 2010)

The group then culminated all the data that gave them the results using the PRELIS, LISREL, and SAS to give an accurate measurement. The findings of the survey showed that females reported a low level of victimization during adolescence, with males slightly above, and transgenders the highest levels. Both gender nonconformity and LGBT individuals’ school victimization was associated with higher young adult depression and lower young adult life satisfaction. In testing their hypotheses, their second hypothesis based on biological sex being a determining factor of adolescent gender nonconformity and adolescent LGBT victimization were not accurate. Their first hypothesis was supported by the results that, “Higher levels of self-reported adolescent gender nonconformity were associated with more LGBT school victimization.”(Toomey, et al, 2010) The third and the main hypothesis of adolescence predictability in adults were supported by proving, gender nonconformity predicts victimization specific to perceptions of LGBT status and that victimization accounts for the effects of psychosocial adjustment in young adults. (Toomey, et al, 2010)

Conclusion

Developmental psychology it is “concerned with interaction between physical and psychological processes and with stages of growth from conception throughout the entire life span.”(APA, 2002) Based on the conclusion there is more research that needs to be conducted. The group only tested a small sample of individuals in a control area where only two races were tested. This research does not give a true representation of the LGBT community of neither San Francisco Bay Area nor throughout the nation. Their study has expanded prior research on the topics of bullying of LGBT and gender non-conforming students within schools, and the psychological affects when they reach adulthood. However they have left much to be desired. In their survey, they test to see if other factors were a determent of victimization, socioeconomic background, and parental employment. Yet they did not include familial experiences and influences that contribute to school victimization throughout adolescent development. The relevancy of this research to the field of developmental psychology and other importance is to further the understanding of the factors that lead to the growing number of cases of suicide and depression in gay, lesbians, and transgender adults by focusing on the experiences during their adolescence.

References

Glossary of Psychological Terms. (2002) American Psychological Association (APA). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/glossary.aspx

Nauert, Rick PhD. Victimization of LGBT Youth Can Be Deadly. (2011). Psych Central. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/05/18/victimization-of-lgbt-youth-can-be-deadly/26253.html

Toomey, Russell, Caitlin Ryan, Rafael M. Diaz, Noel A. Card, and Stephen T. Russell. Gender-Nonconforming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: School Victimization and Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment. (2010). Developmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/school-victimization-impact.pdf