Transgender parenthood, participation in children's lives, and association with discrimination experiences: An exploratory study

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Bruno Silva,Anna Martha Fontanari,Bruna Larissa Seibel,Ítala Raymundo Chinazzo,Kate Luxion,Maria Inês Lobato,Henrique Caetano Nardi,Silvia Helena Koller,Angelo Brandelli Costa
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12637

RESEARCH

Transgender parenthood, participation in children’s

lives, and association with discrimination experiences:

An exploratory study

Bruno de Brito Silva (he, him)

1

|Anna Martha Vaitses Fontanari (she, her)

2

|

Bruna Larissa Seibel (she, her)

3

|Ítala Raymundo Chinazzo

3

|

Kate Luxion (they, them)

4

|Maria Inês Rodrigues Lobato (she, her)

2

|

Henrique Caetano Nardi

5

|Silvia Helena Koller (she, her)

6

|

Angelo Brandelli Costa (he, him)

3

1

Programa de P

os-Graduaç~

ao em Psicologia,

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul,

Porto Alegre, Brazil

2

Department of Psychiatry, Hospital de

Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal

do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

3

Pontifícia Universidade Cat

olica do Rio

Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

4

Social Research Institute, University College

London, London, England

5

Programa de P

os-Graduaç~

ao em Psicologia

Social, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande

do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

6

Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West

University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Correspondence

Bruno de Brito Silva, Graduate Program in

Psychology, Universidade Federal do Rio

Grande do Sul, 2600, Room 226, CEP

90035-003, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul,

Brazil.

Email: bruno.bbs8@gmail.com;

bruno_bbs8@hotmail.com

Funding information

This research was financed by the Brazilian

National Council for Scientific and

Technological Development (CNPq).

Abstract

Objective: To describe general characteristics of transgen-

der parents, highlight aspects of their relationship with

their children, and explore experiences with discrimina-

tion, compared with transgender nonparents.

Background: Few studies have investigated families headed

by transgender individuals, and even fewer in contexts

where there are no specific policies for family planning in

this group, as is the case in Brazil.

Methods: A hospital and web-based cross-sectional survey

recruited transgender individuals from two Brazilian states

during July–October 2014 and January–March 2015. The

survey was designed based on a cross-cultural adaptation

of the TransPULSE project.

Results: From 670 participants, 44 reported being parents,

were older, had more years of education, and were more

likely to be in a relationship than the transgender non-

parents. Controlling for age, transgender parents reported

suffering more discrimination than those who have no chil-

dren. Among them, most became parents through biologi-

cal means, 17.06% reported having lost or having the

custody reduced for being transgender, and 48.07%

suspected or were told that their ability to see their

children less was due to their gender identity.

Conclusion: The key effect of discrimination that transgen-

der parents faced was not having access or having reduced

access to their children.

Received: 19 November 2020Revised: 2 September 2021Accepted: 16 September 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12637

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

122 Family Relations. 2023;72:122–139.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

KEYWORDS

discrimination, family relations, gender identity, parent–child relations,

transgender

Transgender is an umbrella term, seen most often in the LGBTQ+(lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-

gender, queer) acronym, that includes a wide range of persons who do not identify with the gen-

der assigned to them at birth (Ansara & Hegarty, 2012). They are systematically vulnerable to

social exclusion and inequalities, such as lack of social and romantic partner support (Blair &

Hoskin, 2019; Soares et al., 2011; Whitton et al., 2020), labor discrimination (Clements-Nolle

et al., 2006), and unemployment (Divan et al., 2017), as well as difficulty accessing health care

assistance (Costa et al., 2018). Even though psychological and medical interest in transgender

populations has increased, the body of work on transgender parents is virtually nonexistent

(Haines et al., 2014). This article seeks to address this knowledge gap through an introduction

to transgender parents’experiences in Brazil.

To understand what is known about transgender parents, the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey

showed that 18% of participants (n=27,715) reported being parents (James et al., 2016). The

authors compared this number to all U.S. adults who are parents (34%) in the Current Popula-

tion Survey (see U.S. Census Bureau, 2015) and suggested that the lower rate of parenthood is

due to barriers that exist for transgender individuals (James et al., 2016). A contributing reason

may be that transgender parents more frequently have children before the gender-affirming pro-

cess, and consequently, children often “transition with”their transgender parent as the family

roles change (Hines, 2006), so these parents may refrain from listing themselves as transgender

on official paperwork. In kind, this delay in transition to post-parenthood has previously been

linked to legal and medical requirements, resulting in sterilization due to sex reassignment sur-

geries, as precursors to changes in identity documents (Green, 2017; Rachlin et al., 2010).

In addition to this variation in transition timing, another study found differences in who is a

parent based on gender identities: 52% of transgender women, 17% of transgender men, and

20% of gender-diverse people reported having children (Stotzer et al., 2014). As for the number

of children per family, a previous U.S. study (Factor & Rothblum, 2007) showed that transgen-

der women had an average of 2.18 children, transgender men had an average of 1.75 children,

and genderqueer participants had an average of 2.15 children.

What is known is that aspects of the family functioning (e.g., quality of communication

among family members, satisfaction with family functioning) of transgender parents is an

important mental health protective factor. Higher rates of some form of familial rejection are

observed as a result of the transition (Grant et al., 2011; Seibel et al., 2018), making it vital to

understand why family tensions arise. Moreover, acceptance by the family of origin has been

associated with the presence of fewer negative outcomes for transgender individuals, including

substance abuse and suicide ideation and attempts (Ryan et al., 2010). Family acceptance and

cohesion have also shown a positive correlation with outcomes such as greater life satisfaction

and higher self-esteem (Snapp et al., 2015), sexual efficacy, more stable employment

(Stotzer, 2011), and the ability to build and maintain protective and positive family relation-

ships (Erich et al., 2008). With these benefits, it is important to bear in mind that state-level pro-

tections do not consistently translate into family-level support.

Because of varying experiences in the social support network, it is notable how families of

origin, the other members of LGBTQ+-parented families (coparents and children), friendship

networks (i.e., families of choice), and communities (e.g., neighborhood, LGBTQ+health care

services, or nongovernmental organizations) can affect transgender people in both positive and

distressing ways (Ashton, 2011). Thus, the theoretical proposition of this study is based on the

perspective of minority stress, in which discrimination influences psychosocial outcomes in gen-

der minorities (Hendricks & Testa, 2012). Generally speaking, minority stress theory states that

TRANSGENDER PARENTHOOD123