"We've been here all along:" The collective resilience of transgender and gender diverse U.S. service members

Psychol Serv. 2023 May;20(2):382-396. doi: 10.1037/ser0000721. Epub 2022 Nov 10.

Abstract

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people in the United States face high rates of minority stressors, such as social rejection, homelessness, discrimination, and identity-based violence (James et al., 2016). Transgender and gender diverse service members are also exposed to unique military-specific stressors such as discriminatory military policies, combat stress, and military sexual trauma (Tucker et al., 2019). However, little is known about TGD troops' experiences of resilience when navigating stress and trauma exposure during their military service. A transaffirmative participatory research design and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) analytic method were used to explore how troops made sense of their experiences of oppression and resilience. Researchers interviewed TGD service members (N = 40) about their gender identity and military service. Superordinate themes included: (a) understanding oppression; (b) survival strategies; (c) individual stress and resilience factors; and (d) collective resilience factors. Results suggest that both intrasubjective and intersubjective factors impacted how TGD troops made sense of their experiences of oppression and resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Gender Identity
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Military Personnel*
  • Transgender Persons*
  • United States