In her work more broadly, Olson is interested in how children divide the world into social groups and how they think about inequality. As a developmental researcher, she is intrigued by the dynamics at play when society actively discourages individuals from identifying with a social group to which they feel an affinity. “Transgender people have unequal outcomes in the world, but at the time I started the project, very little work had been done, especially regarding transgender children.” In many ways, the scientific community had marginalized the study of an already marginalized group, which made the transgender population all the more interesting to Olson. “Part of what drew me to study the experience of trans kids was an interest in understanding groups that are under-understood,” explains Olson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington. But for now, it seems like most of those who socially transition are very clear about their identities.' - Kristina Olson, PhD '08īut is it a given that individuals who identify as transgender will necessarily face these challenges? And what role, if any, does nurture and environment play? These questions form part of the work that Kristina Olson, PhD ’08, is addressing through the TransYouth Project, the first large-scale, longitudinal study of transgender and gender-nonconforming children. We don't know what will happen as the kids get older and move into adolescence. In fact, a survey of nearly 6,500 transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2011 found that 41 percent of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6 percent of the general population. Many live with high levels of stress, isolation, and mental health challenges and often contemplate or attempt suicide. Many also contend with families and a society that often don’t understand what they are going through, facing high rates of harassment, bullying, and assault. Transgender individuals don’t merely deal with a disconnect between mind and body. It predicts that more-robust studies in the future will find the actual number to be much higher. Statistics vary, but a 2017 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 1 in 250 Americans-a total of 1 million people-identify as transgender.

The experience of not connecting with the gender assigned at birth is referred to by the medical community as gender dysphoria, though people who fall into this category often prefer the term transgender. What do you do? What can you do? Understanding the Under-Understood You feel trapped in some kind of Kafkaesque reality: The body you inhabit is the wrong one, the opposite one. Then, imagine you get up and look in a mirror, surprised to see a body that does not correspond to the person you are certain you are. It doesn’t occur to you that you should be any different, or even that you could be. You are a boy or a girl, with the likes and dislikes associated with that gender. Imagine you wake up one morning, certain of who you are and of your place in the world.

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