Strengthening Families: Parental acceptance and types of social support amongst trans*female youth

Introduction

Trans*female youth are an understudied and underserved population at risk for numerous poor health outcomes, most notably HIV. Social support, especially from parents, is a key protective factor against risk behaviors.

Methods

Cross sectional data collected in 2012-2013 from an epidemiologic study of HIV risk and resilience among 287 trans*female youth from the San Francisco Bay Area were analyzed. Univariate statistics, to describe parental acceptance, are presented with chi-squared tests to determine if parental acceptance is correlated to higher social support from parents compared to non-parents (i.e. chosen family, partners, friends, etc.).

Results

Many of the participants, 237 (82.6%) reported having non-parent social support (NPSS), and 50 (17.4%) reported receiving parental social support (PSS).  Overall, among those who reported parental acceptance, there were significantly higher proportions of youth who reported PSS compared to NPSS. For example, among those who reported their parents believed they could have a happy future as a trans adult, youth were more likely to report PSS than NPSS (88% PSS vs. 51.5% NPSS, p<0.001). For participants who reported their parents expressed affection when they first talked about their gender identity, significantly (p<0.001) more participants reported PSS (66%) compared to NPSS (35.9%).

Conclusion

These findings suggest trans*female youth who report their parents accept their gender identity may be more likely to reach out to their parents for social support. Education for parents on ways to be supportive to their trans children are urgently needed.