"Binaries Do Not Exist!" Measuring Gender Identity Among Diverse Rural Middle-School Youth
Gender diverse individuals experience disparities in outcomes compared with their cisgender peers, and younger generations might identify as gender diverse at a greater rate. However, research on this population is hindered by a lack of validated gender measures. This study quantitatively and qualit...
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| Published in: | Psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 373 - 382 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Educational Publishing Foundation
01-09-2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Gender diverse individuals experience disparities in outcomes compared with their cisgender peers, and younger generations might identify as gender diverse at a greater rate. However, research on this population is hindered by a lack of validated gender measures. This study quantitatively and qualitatively assessed two different gender identity measures among rural middle-school-age youth. As part of a larger pregnancy prevention program, 10,078 middle-school-aged youth (n = 159 gender diverse youth) from a rural community reported information on demographics and program-related factors. Students responded to one of two different gender identity measures, a single-item binary measure or a two-item inclusive measure. Chi-square analyses were used to analyze the quantitative data and content analysis was used to analyze the write-in responses. The two-item measure identified significantly more gender diverse students compared with the single-item measure in seventh and eighth grade and received less missing gender data in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Gender diverse students reported lower levels of protective factors, with greater disparities found in eighth grade. Write-in categories consisted of gender identities and nongender-identities, with the latter including sexual identity, nonderogatory jokes, derogatory jokes, confusion, commentary, and ambiguous responses. Both cisgender and gender diverse youth completed the two-item inclusive gender measure, resulting in identification of gender diverse individuals with less ambiguity. Using an inclusive measure had additional benefits, including the removal of a potential microaggression. This study also demonstrated an advantage of pen-and-paper surveys, which allow participants to provide researchers unsolicited qualitative information.
Public Significance Statement
In this study of rural, diverse, middle-school-aged youth, we demonstrated that the use of a two-item inclusive measure of gender more accurately identifies individuals with gender diverse identities compared with a single-item measure, resulted in less missing data, and was a valid assessment of gender for cisgender and gender diverse youth. Our findings indicate that a two-item measure of gender is a more inclusive and useful tool for practitioners, educators, and researchers who study and work with youth as young as those in sixth grade. |
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| ISSN: | 2329-0382 2329-0390 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/sgd0000549 |