Parenting a child with gender identity issues

Much of the literature on children and young people with gender identity issues
focuses on aetiology. Within such studies, parents are often pathologised and
implicated in 'causing' their child's gender identity issues. There is very little
research specifically with parents exploring their experience of having a child
with gender identity issues. As such, this study interviewed twelve parents
about their experience of having a child with gender identity issues and adopted
a grounded theory methodology.
Parents talked about their experiences within the framework of a 'journey' and
identified a number of contexts which they found themselves interacting with.
Throughout the 'journey' parents identified a number of issues, challenges and
dilemmas that they had to manage. The findings of the study highlighted the
complexity of the situation that the parents were faced with and the isolation
that they felt in dealing with these issues. The analysis suggested that placing
the parent and their family within a wider social, cultural and temporal context
may allow for their issues to be responded to in a more holistic and thoughtful
way. The results of the study intimate a number of recommendations for future
research and suggestions for services that work with parents.

This thesis supplied via ROAR to UEL-registered users is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication of any part of the material is not permitted, except for your personal use for the purposes of non-commercial research and private study in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission from the copyright-holder for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, for sale or otherwise, to anyone. No quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement.