Trans Resilience & Health in Sociopolitical Contexts

A study of how place and sociopolitical events relate to health and resilience for transgender individuals.

This study was conceptualized in October 2018 when the Trump administration leaked a memo about trying to rigidly define sex and gender in ways that would further oppress transgender (or, trans) and nonbinary individuals. In light of this and many other attacks on trans and nonbinary people, we set off to study the effects of sociopolitical context on health and resilience for trans and nonbinary people. We partnered with researchers and community members across four states to conduct this research. Our hope is that this research can be used to advocate for greater protections and more inclusive policies for transgender individuals in the future and add to our understandings about the impacts of oppression on health and resilience.

Our study included participants from Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, and Tennessee – states that vary widely in their supports for trans and nonbinary people.

We conducted in-depth baseline visits, which included interviews, surveys, and the collection of biomarker measures of health. After all participants were enrolled, we entered the second phase of the study, which entailed monthly online surveys for 12 months from April 2020 to March 2021. We then conducted virtual interviews and then met back up with participants for a second round of collection of the biomarker measures of health. You can find out many more details on this section of our site!

There are many findings coming out from the study on an ongoing basis! We also are committed to creative dissemination of our participants’ stories and experiences in ways that can benefit the community, such as the Resilience Postcard Project!

See our findings section for updates about publications, videos, infographics, and other ways to learn about the results of the study!

News

We’ve updated our publications page – see our newest findings there!

Take a look at our brief report describing some of the data collected at baseline

Check out our Resilience Postcard Project!

We are continuing to collect data remotely during the pandemic. Check out our study info to learn more about the progress of the study.

We recently released an infographic describing the study and participants. Click here for more info!