A Scoping Review Examining Social and Legal Gender Affirmation and Health Among Transgender Populations

Copyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers..

Purpose: Transgender (trans) populations experience health inequities. Gender affirmation refers to psychological, social, legal, and medical validation of one's gender and is a key social determinant of trans health. The majority of research has focused on medical affirmation; however, less is known about the role of social and legal affirmation in shaping trans health. This review aimed to (1) examine how social and legal gender affirmation have been defined and operationalized and (2) evaluate the association between these forms of gender affirmation and health outcomes among trans populations in the United States. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of LGBT Life, PsycInfo, and PubMed using search strings targeting transgender populations and gender affirmation. This review includes 24 of those articles as well as 1 article retrieved through hand searching. We used a modified version of the National Institute of Health Quality Assessment Tool to evaluate study quality. Results: All studies relied on cross-sectional data. Studies measured and operationalized social and legal gender affirmation inconsistently, and some measures conflated social gender affirmation with other constructs. Health outcomes related to mental health, HIV, smoking, and health care utilization, and studies reported mixed results regarding both social and legal gender affirmation. The majority of studies had serious methodological limitations. Conclusion: Despite conceptual and methodological limitations, social and legal gender affirmation were related to several health outcomes. Study findings can be used to develop valid and reliable measures of these constructs to support future multilevel interventions that improve the health of trans communities.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:6

Enthalten in:

Transgender health - 6(2021), 1 vom: 19. Feb., Seite 5-22

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

King, Wesley M [VerfasserIn]
Gamarel, Kristi E [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Journal Article
Legal gender affirmation
Nonbinary
Review
Social gender affirmation
Transgender

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 27.10.2023

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1089/trgh.2020.0025

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM322021820