Experiences of Within-Culture Gender Minority Stress and Resilience

Featured Article

Journal of Counseling Psychology | 2025, Vol. 72, No. 2, p. 158-171

Article Title

“Seeing the Balance in the Two Worlds in Which I Exist”: Latinx Trans and Nonbinary Individuals’ Experiences of Within-Culture Gender Minority Stress and Resilience

Authors

Rebekah Estevez; Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University

Anneliese Singh; School of Social Work, Tulane University

Edward Delgado-Romero; Department of Psychology, University of Georgia

Shawntell Pace; Department of Psychology, University of Georgia

Charmaine Ozuna; Department of Psychology, University of Georgia

Jahi Hamilton; Department of Psychology, University of Georgia

Walter Bockting; New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, New York City, New York, United States

Allen LeBlanc; Department of Sociology and Sexuality Studies, San Francisco State University

Abstract

Recent calls have been made to decolonize White-dominated, Western narratives around concealment (e.g., that disclosure should be prioritized) and instead to examine psychosocial factors associated with concealment. Existing literature lacks exploration into daily variations of sexual or gender identity concealment (hereafter, “concealment”) among sexual and gender minority people, especially sexual minority women (SMW) and transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals who have experienced trauma. Additionally, there is little research delving into individual characteristics, such as trait-based avoidance coping, and specific contexts, including daily minority stressors and threat appraisal, prompting trauma-exposed SMW and TGD people to conceal their identities. Addressing these gaps, we aimed to develop and test an innovative model that advances stress and coping frameworks by integrating minority stress and social safety theories. We used data from a 14-day intensive longitudinal study among 57 trauma-exposed SMW and TGD people. Minority stressors and threat appraisal were associated with concealment at both the within- and between-person levels, respectively. Trait-based general avoidance coping predicted identity concealment and moderated the link between daily minority stressors and concealment. Daily minority stressors were associated with greater concealment only among those who reported lower avoidance coping. Concealment may operate as an experiential avoidance behavior among those who habitually cope by using avoidance and as a goal-directed coping response among trauma-exposed SMW and TGD people who face acute minority stressors and report less avoidance coping. Counseling psychologists exploring the function of concealment with trauma-exposed SMW and TGD people should attend to stigma exposure, threat appraisal, and avoidance coping.

Keywords

Transgender, Latinx, resilience, well-being, qualitative research

Summary of Research

“Although the amount of research on trans and nonbinary (TNB) communities has increased over the last decade, there remains a gap in the literature regarding the unique experiences of Latinx TNB communities. Latinx TNB people represent a diverse, vibrant, and resilient community that continues to thrive in the face of historical and ongoing adversity rooted in transprejudice and racism. Latinx families and communities exist within broader social systems, including cisnormativity and heteronormativity, which can shape the emotional and behavioral expressions of cultural values… While identity-based communities have been previously identified as resilience-promoting contexts for TNB communities in general, a more nuanced approach to understanding how Latinx TNB individuals navigate potentially oppressive cultural norms is needed” (p. 159).

The present study aimed to examine the unique and specific resilience processes cultivated and enacted by LatinxTNBindividuals in response to culture-driven GMS. Specifically, the research question guiding this study was: “How do Latinx TNB community members describe their lived experiences of GMS and resilience in their Latinx cultural context?”... The research team used an interpretivist–constructivist form of the phenomenological paradigm through the methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith & Osborn, 2004), which helps researchers understand how individuals perceive the world by exploring the meaning of everyday experiences, emphasizing the process of interpretation and thus the centrality of researcher subjectivity as a source of data.

“Data collection took place over a HIPAA-compliant video conference platform, and informed consent was reviewed and obtained prior to the start of the interview process. Participants completed a demographic survey asking questions pertaining to participants’ gender identity, sexual orientation, racial/ethnic identity, and information pertaining to socioeconomic status. The semistructured interview protocol used in this study was constructed based on the lead investigator’s review of pertinent literature, reflection on the goals, beliefs, and experiences that the lead investigator brought into the endeavor, mentorship by prominent researchers in Latinx and TNB psychology, the theoretical framework guiding the study, and the CAB’s feedback. The final semistructured interview protocol included three domains: (a) prompts regarding how the participant understands their gender identity and racial/ethnic identity, (b) prompts regarding how the participant experiences GMS and resilience as a Latinx TNB person, and (c) prompts regarding drivers of GMS and resilience focusing on salient Latinx cultural variables” (p. 162).

“Our participants described a dialectic, or the existence of synthesized opposites, regarding the ways Latinx-specific cultural values and their social/relational and behavioral expressions entail both GMS as well as the ability to navigate and surmount GMS in ways that are aligned with one’s cultural identity. The resilience processes described by our participants often included deconstructing norms and values associated with European colonizing forces (e.g., Christian religiosity). Additionally, our findings extend current understandings of the GMS model by highlighting ways specific Latinx cultural values and norms can act both as a source of gender identity-based stress and a resilience-engendering process toward healing. Further, our dialectical findings regarding the role of Latinx cultural values in GMS and resilience processes add to a growing body of literature exploring the impact of the identified cultural values of gender norms, Christian religiosity, and familismo in Latinx LGBTQIA+ people’s lives Taken together, the present study’s findings inform a nuanced understanding of the ways Latinx TNB individuals navigate gender identity-based stress from within their Latinx cultural heritage, with subsequent implications for research and practice” (p. 166-167).

Translating Research into Practice

“Considering the current gaps in knowledge regarding the Latinx TNB community, there are many implications from the present study in terms of knowledge clinical providers should acquire toward providing culturally responsive and affirming psychotherapy. For instance, providers should be aware of the ways aspects of Latinx cultures, such as gender roles and religiosity, shape clients’ racialized gender journeys and community acceptance of Latinx TNB individuals. Providers should keep in mind the role of their Latinx TNB clients’ generational and acculturative status, which highlights the importance of ensuring the assessment of such factors is a part of standard clinical practice. Importantly, the participants in the present study described ways Latinx cultural values were facilitators of both GMS and resilience. Thus, clinicians are reminded to not assume that experiences like coming out, navigating familial acceptance, and racial/ethnic community-based experiences will be wholly negative, nor that they will be like White TNB people. Inviting clients to reflect on their unique, culturally bound experiences and understandings of such events, and being alert to client and/or provider leanings toward placing a Eurocentric lens on such experiences by reinforcing dominant narratives, is important toward culturally responsive and affirming care. Finally, clinicians should be open to the potential of using liberation psychology (Martín-Baro´, 1994; A. A. Singh, 2016; A. A. Singh et al., 2020) and radical healing (French et al., 2023) based interventions, such as recovering historical memory and helping their clients decolonize their understanding of themselves as Latinx TNB individuals. Possible interventions from these approaches could include engaging clients in consciousness raising to learn about precolonial cultural notions of gender and sexuality and explore radical hope-based creative resistance strategies to uninternalize and modify colonized knowledge and beliefs. Additionally, while not appropriate for nonspiritual or religious clients, therapists can help clients get in contact with and explore indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices by working with cultural practitioners” (p. 168).

Other Interesting Tidbits for Researchers and Clinicians

“There are limitations of the present study that should be considered. First, the lead author/investigator is a White cisgender woman with a queer sexual orientation. While she has strong ties to the Latinx TNB community (see Estevez & Merrifield, 2023), she carries an outsider–insider positionality in relation to the community studied (Dwyer & Buckle, 2009). Additionally, the research team that carried out the data analysis is composed of diverse individuals in terms of racial/ethnic identity and sexual orientation, but not in terms of gender identity. These positionalities and the subjectivities described in the methods section may potentially limit the team’s ability to truly understand and therefore interpret well the lived experiences of Latinx TNB people, whose worldviews and subjectivities likely differ in important ways due to differences in power and oppression. However, the trustworthiness strategies (e.g., individual and team reflexivity procedures and participant member checking) integrated with best practices for scholarship with TNB communities (e.g., working with a CAB; A. A. Singh & Dickey, 2017) are offered as ways in which credibility can be assessed. Additionally, it is important to note that while our participants identified generally as Latinx and trans, the degree of affiliation to panethnic Latinidad versus specific identities (e.g., Afro-Puerto Rican) could impact the expression and experience of Latinx cultural values and thus, experiences of culture-based GMS and resilience in ways not captured by our study’s methodology. Similarly, our sample included people with several identities under the trans umbrella generally. As noted by some participants, being nonbinary or genderqueer potentially carries unique experiences of Latinx culture-based GMS and resilience that differ from binary gender Latinx trans people, and readers should be cautious about applying these findings to all those who identify under the trans umbrella” (p. 168-169).