Using the Life History Calendar to Examine Young Transgender Women’s Trajectories of Violence, Mental Health, and Protective Processes

College of Community Engagement & Professions, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, Hereth, Jane, Lunger, Lexy, Mentor, Poster Presentation, School and College, Social Work, Student

Lexy Lunger, “Using the Life History Calendar to Examine Young Transgender Women’s Trajectories of Violence, Mental Health, and Protective Processes”
Mentor: Jane Hereth, Social Work
Poster #119

The purpose of this study is to conduct life course research on interpersonal victimization, mental health impacts, and protective factors among young transgender women. Transgender women disproportionately experience instances of violence and victimization. Due to systemic erasure and lack of funding, there is a deficit in current research findings about LGBTQIA2S+ populations; transgender women are some of the most overlooked. By focusing on the experiences of victimization of young transgender women, this study sought to decrease that knowledge deficit. This study uses the life history calendar (LHC), a life course research framework useful in capturing and examining victimization trajectories and significant life events. Using the LHC in the interview process facilitates the capture of experiences and promotes the participants’ ability to recall. The interview opens with a few examples of personally significant life events (good, bad, neutral), called landmarks, that the participant can use as anchor points to place other memories. The LHC that was used in this study was adapted from LHCs used to track victimization trajectories in cisgender women. The LHC and other interview tools used in this study were adapted using feedback from transgender women and included transition-related milestones as landmarks in addition to the general landmarks. Interviews were conducted with 104 young transgender women in Milwaukee or Chicago between the ages of 18-35 using the LHC to capture landmarks, incidents of victimization, help-seeking behavior, and feedback on participation in the study. The LHC had been utilized in tracking the victimization trajectory in cisgender women; those findings led to an increased understanding of the risk and impact of victimization. Those findings led to the development of prevention programs and interventions supporting cisgender women who experienced victimization. The intention is that this study can be part of this process for transgender women.