Gender expression varies within diverse gender identities in adolescents and adults

Gender is typically considered in psychological science using limited categorical identities that do not necessarily capture the experiences of gender-diverse people. Gender expression provides a unique way of accounting for variation due to gender by using a continuous measure, which may help give nuance to our understanding of how gender is experienced. This study examines patterns of variance in dimensional measures of gender expression within and between diverse gender identity categories. We compare results across two data sets spanning adolescence and adulthood: the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset, a sample of diverse adolescents throughout the United States (N=10,120), and the POWER relationship study, a survey of adults recruited via social media, oversampled for diverse gender identities and sexual orientations (N=1,405). Across both samples, our results revealed variance in gender expression within categorical gender identities and overlap in gender expression between categories, with less pronounced differences between sexual orientation categories in adults than in adolescents. We find both variation and consistency in gender expression across age cohorts, potentially informing the development of gender expression over time. These results illustrate the importance of recognizing gender as complex spectra to better represent diverse personal experiences.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Kadel, Brooke Elyse

Contributors dc:contributor

• Derringer, Jaime
• Briley, D. A.

• Gender Expression
• Gender Identity
• Gender Nonconformity
• Nonbinary
• Sexual Orientation

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Brooke Kadel

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127417

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F127417