Transitioning Meanings? Family Members' Communicative Struggles Surrounding Transgender Identity

Adult development and quality of life of transgender and gender nonconforming people

“…Studies are mostly qualitative and samples are small. Some studies conceptualize how parents or spouses deal with a loved one’s transition, depicting loss, grief and cognitive restructuring (86, 87, 88). While family support is a protective factor in coping with minority stress and associated with better quality of life (38, 89, 90), family rejection is as high as 57% and 19% reported family violence (39).…”

Losing the Child They Thought They Had: Therapeutic Suggestions for an Ambiguous Loss Perspective with Parents of a Transgender Child

“…Furthermore, as the zeitgeist of our times seems to be shifting toward greater equality for the sexual minority community, so too does transgender visibility-in the GLBTQIA (Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) community, in politics, in schools, and in the field of family therapy-seem to be increasing. Importantly, loved ones are better able to support their child's new trans-identity when they, themselves, are receiving support, (Ellis & Eriksen, 2002;Norwood, 2012Norwood, , 2013aRosenfeld & Emerson, 1998) and this familial support can be essential to the transgender person's identity development (Zamboni, 2006). Importantly, loved ones are better able to support their child's new trans-identity when they, themselves, are receiving support, (Ellis & Eriksen, 2002;Norwood, 2012Norwood, , 2013aRosenfeld & Emerson, 1998) and this familial support can be essential to the transgender person's identity development (Zamboni, 2006).…”

“…Furthermore, much of the little research that has specifically investigated family reactions to a loved one's gender transition supports the notion that parents whose child transitions experience a sense of having lost their child (Lesser, 1999;Norwood, 2012Norwood, , 2013aPearlman, 2006;Wren, 2002). Like parents of sexual minority children, parents of trans-identified children use the metaphor of death to describe the impact of their experience of loss (Norwood, 2012(Norwood, , 2013aPearlman, 2006). One parent stated, "She died, my mother-daughter relationship died, our concept of her has died" (quote from a participant, Pearlman, 2006, p. 108).…”

“…In a study that explored how family members of transgender people struggled to make meaning of their loved one's transition, Norwood (2012) found that the tension between presence and absence was the most salient, followed by the tension between sameness and difference. That is, in trying to make sense of their loved one's transition, family members struggled most often with how to reconcile knowing that person was still here yet experiencing a part of that person as lost, and negotiating how much of their loved one is the same versus different.…”

“…Transgender and transsexual individuals often do more than just change their appearance (Lev, 2004); they change their identity, their familial roles, the nature of their relationships (Norwood, 2012), and their social positioning within the world. 1 What happens when a person believes that the sex they were assigned at birth does not match their experienced gender identity, and they choose to transition physically so that their body is congruent with that internal experience, often referred to as transsexualism?…”