Transgender Homelessness: Factors, Trauma, and Mental Health

This report investigates the factors contributing to homelessness among transgender individuals, focusing on the role of family rejection, societal discrimination, and inadequate social services. It utilizes the minority stress theory to explain the mental health disparities experienced by this population, including increased rates of suicide attempts and harassment. The report identifies structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal stressors that impact transgender individuals, emphasizing the need for awareness and intervention strategies. Key concepts discussed include trauma, mental health, and the challenges faced by transgender individuals in accessing safe housing and support. The report references multiple studies to support its findings and concludes by highlighting the importance of addressing these issues to improve the well-being of the transgender community.

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Transgender community are more likely to experience homelessness and family
rejection is generally considered as one of the most common factors contributing to their
homelessness. It has been found in a study of United States, one in five transgender
individuals have experienced homelessness in their lives. Multiple studies have indicated that
the transgender people are at high risk of homelessness due to the conflict with their family
about their identity as transgender (Gurung, et al., 2018). In some cases, it has also been
found by the researchers that transgender people leave their house due to different types of
physical abuse or conflict about their sexual orientation (Kattari & Begun, 2017).
Unfortunately, the social services as well as the homeless shelters often fail to appropriately
or culturally serve the transgender homeless people and as a consequence these people suffer
from trauma. In a study, it has been revealed by the researchers that developing mental health
condition is nearly 13% higher among the transgender people due to their sexual identity
crisis (Alessi & Martin, 2017). According to the National Institute of Health, 41%
transgender people reported to attempt suicide and 78% reported harassment for transgender
identity (Gurung, et al., 2018). With the extreme prevalence of mental health issues, it has
been found that a high proportion of transgender people are seeking mental health therapy for
trauma due to abuse and homelessness. In this paper, different kinds of factors that results in
homelessness among the transgender people will be identified using a theoretical framework
and the hypothesis in this regard will also be addressed. Psychologists also find clinical issues
with the transgender people which causes serious mental health concerns and most of the
issues arise due to the homelessness of the transgender people. Minority stress theory has
provided a theoretical framework to understand the mental health disparities among the
transgender people due to various socio-cultural factors (Frost, Lehavot & Meyer, 2015). The
framework argues that transgender people experience some chronic stressors that are highly
associated with their stigmatized identities, victimization, and homelessness for all these

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reasons. The daily life stressor and the trauma of homelessness compromise the mental health
of the transgender people. The theoretical framework mainly posits that three different stress
processes are there from distal to proximal that include external stressors such as structural
discrimination due to homelessness, fear of rejection or victimization, and the
internationalization of all kinds of negative social attitudes towards the transgender people.
Extension of the framework also focuses on the intrapersonal psychological processes that
indicate the experiences of minority stress (Tebbe & Moradi, 2016). Hence, it is essential to
identify the structural circumstances within which the transgender people are embedded.
Also, the interpersonal experiences and the intrapersonal resources will be analyzed in order
to find the determinants. The minority stress theory will also identify the root cause of trauma
and ways to cope up with the issues. However, lack of awareness among the people has
contributed to the continued discrimination and the homelessness of the transgender people.
But, using the theoretical framework, it is possible to analyze multiple causes and factors of
homelessness among the transgender people and simultaneously, it will be possible to reduce
such issues by spreading awareness among the people.

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Conceptual model
lawandpolicies,schoolandcommunityprogramsinterpersonalcontextsuchasinteractionwithpeersorfamilymembersclinicalpractice,physicalabuseintrapersonalcharacteristics,socialandculturalfactorsTransgenderHomelessnes
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Trauma

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References
Alessi, E. J., & Martin, J. I. (2017). Intersection of trauma and identity. In Trauma,
Resilience, and Health Promotion in LGBT Patients (pp. 3-14). Springer, Cham.
Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Edward_Alessi/publication/318235808_Intersect
ion_of_Trauma_and_Identity/links/5bc89a6a299bf17a1c5c93f6/Intersection-of-
Trauma-and-Identity.pdf
Frost, D. M., Lehavot, K., & Meyer, I. H. (2015). Minority stress and physical health among
sexual minority individuals. Journal of behavioral medicine, 38(1), 1-8. Retrieved
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3895416/
Gurung, S., Ventuneac, A., Rendina, H. J., Savarese, E., Grov, C., & Parsons, J. T. (2018).
Prevalence of military sexual trauma and sexual orientation discrimination among
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender military personnel: a descriptive
study. Sexuality research and social policy, 15(1), 74-82. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5983034/
Kattari, S. K., & Begun, S. (2017). On the margins of marginalized: Transgender
homelessness and survival sex. Affilia, 32(1), 92-103. Retrieved from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0886109916651904
Tebbe, E. A., & Moradi, B. (2016). Suicide risk in trans populations: An application of
minority stress theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(5), 520. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/205c/fd1df14395b29c8676dab2ed16cc4a55ca5d.pdf