Monitoring the Health of Transgender and Other Gender Minority Populations: Validity of Natal Sex and Gender Identity Survey Items in a U.S. National Cohort of Young Adults

Authors

Sari L. Reisner, Harvard School of Public Health
Kerith J. Conron, Northeastern University
Laura Anatale Tardiff, Harvard Medical School
Stephanie Jarvi Steele, Suffolk UniversityFollow
Allegra R. Gordon, Harvard School of Public Health
S Bryn Austin, Harvard Medical School

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

BMC Public Health

Abstract

Background: A barrier to monitoring the health of gender minority (transgender) populations is the lack of brief, validated tools with which to identify participants in surveillance systems.

Methods: We used the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), a prospective cohort study of U.S. young adults (mean age = 20.7 years in 2005), to assess the validity of self-report measures and implement a two-step method to measure gender minority status (step 1: assigned sex at birth, step 2: current gender identity). A mixed-methods study was conducted in 2013. Construct validity was evaluated in secondary data analysis of the 2010 wave (n = 7,831). Cognitive testing interviews of close-ended measures were conducted with a subsample of participants (n = 39).

Results: Compared to cisgender (non-transgender) participants, transgender participants had higher levels of recalled childhood gender nonconformity age < 11 years and current socially assigned gender nonconformity and were more likely to have ever identified as not completely heterosexual (p < 0.001). No problems with item comprehension were found for cisgender or gender minority participants. Assigned sex at birth was interpreted as sex designated on a birth certificate; transgender was understood to be a difference between a person’s natal sex and gender identity. Participants were correctly classified as male, female, or transgender.

Conclusions: The survey items performed well in this sample and are recommended for further evaluation in languages other than English and with diverse samples in terms of age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Issue

14

First Page

1

Last Page

10

DOI

10.1186/1471-2458-14-1224

Comments

Archived as published. Open access article.

Recommended Citation

Reisner, Sari L.; Conron, Kerith J.; Tardiff, Laura Anatale; Jarvi Steele, Stephanie; Gordon, Allegra R.; and Austin, S Bryn, "Monitoring the Health of Transgender and Other Gender Minority Populations: Validity of Natal Sex and Gender Identity Survey Items in a U.S. National Cohort of Young Adults" (2014). Psychology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/181