Abstract
Purpose: Little is known about the reproductive desires of transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) adolescents who may seek gender-affirming medical care that leads to infertility. The current study addressed this gap by examining attitudes toward fertility and family formation in a diverse sample of TGNC youth. Method: An online survey about sexual/reproductive health in sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents ages 14–17 years was conducted from September to October 2016. Results: A total of 156 TGNC adolescents (Mage = 16.1 years; 83.3% assigned female at birth; 58.3% youth of color) responded. Overall, 70.5% of TGNC adolescents were interested in adoption and 35.9% in biological parenthood; more gender-nonconforming youth (43.8%) than transgender youth (25.8%) expressed interest in biological fertility. Discussions with health-care providers about fertility and reproductive health were uncommon—only 20.5% of youth had discussed fertility in general and only 13.5% had discussed effects of hormones on fertility. However, 60.9% of respondents were interested in learning more about their fertility and family building options. Key themes emerging from qualitative comments included concerns related to fertility/reproductive health (e.g., stigma of SGM parenthood, effect of gender-affirming treatments on fertility), and the need for additional reproductive health information both tailored to their individual experience and for SGM individuals more generally. Discussion: TGNC adolescents expressed interest in multiple family building options, including adoption and biological parenthood, and identified a need for more information about these options. Thus, clinicians working with adolescents should be aware of the unique fertility and reproductive health needs of TGNC youth.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 62-68 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Adolescent Health |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2018 |
Funding
This work was supported in part by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities ( R01MD009561 ; principal investigators: B. Mustanski and C.B. Fisher). The study sponsors had no role in the (1) study design; (2) the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; (3) the writing of the report; and (4) the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Keywords
- Adolescents
- Family building
- Family formation
- Fertility
- Gender-nonconforming
- Reproductive health
- Transgender
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
