Lex Pulice-Farrow

• Master of Arts
• PhD Student at University of Tennessee at Knoxville

The present study focuses on transgender microaggressions that occur in the context of romantic relationships. While romantic relationships are typically built on equality between partners, cross-category relationships (where the partners hold different levels of societal power) are inherently built on inequity, and may be maintained at the expense...

The present study explored strategies LGBTQ people used to cope during the U.S. presidential administration of Donald Trump. Coping strategies can buffer the impact of identity-related stigma and decreased psychological well-being, but little is known about the ongoing coping strategies LGBTQ people used during Trump’s presidential administration....

Introduction Gender dysphoria has historically been explained through both a clinical lens and the narrative of body dissatisfaction. Because clinicians serve in a gatekeeping role for gender affirming medical services, trans clients may feel the need to report symptoms consistent with diagnostic criteria. Clinicians’ accounts of dysphoria, then, m...

Purpose: Clinical definitions of gender dysphoria have primarily centered on a binary conceptualization of gender. The present study aimed to understand nonbinary trans individuals' experiences of gender dysphoria. Methods: Data were collected online from a non-clinical sample comprised of 205 nonbinary and agender participants. Analysis focused on...

Background: Transgender individuals experience barriers to accessing healthcare including financial difficulties, lack of insurance, and discrimination and victimization by medical providers. Transmasculine patients face unique challenges and are more at risk for reproductive pathology resulting from a lack of regular gynecological care. Presently,...

The present study evaluated if transgender and nonbinary (TNB) adults in intimate relationships with other TNB partners (referred to as “transgender-for-transgender” or “T4T” relationships) have higher relationship satisfaction compared to TNB adults in relationships with cisgender partners (“TNB-cis” relationships) through the indirect pathway of...

The purpose of the present study was to develop and test psychometric properties of two versions of a novel measure, the Partner Affirmation of Transgender Identity Scale (PATIS). The first version provides a measure of how transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals perceive their intimate partners’ affirmation of their TNB identity and is referre...

Experiences of nonbinary psychotherapists have largely gone unexamined in the present literature. Using critical-constructivist grounded theory, we explored the experiences of 13 nonbinary licensed psychotherapists through qualitative semistructured interviews. Interviews were an average of 1.36 hr, and participants were recruited via social media...

Purpose: Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) adults experience disproportionate levels of intimate partner violence (IPV) compared with cisgender populations. Most research with TNB samples has focused on individual and demographic risk factors associated with IPV. Scarce research with TNB samples has evaluated how relational factors correlate with IPV...

Researchers aren’t always working with primary data, they often work with pre-existing, secondary and older data. Sometimes, this means that the data being used was not collected in a way that aligns with recommended practices for measuring gender, sex and sexuality. How should researchers deal with these issues, and responsibly use data that has i...

Medical management of gender dysphoria focuses on providing gender affirmative interventions with the goal of reducing or eliminating gender dysphoria. This framework supports a narrative that conceptualizes gender dysphoria as a mental illness diagnosis, and considers gender dysphoria as relatively static. Recent qualitative research has documente...

While previous studies have demonstrated that connection to community may act as a buffer for negative mental health outcomes for marginalized individuals, more recent studies show that trans individuals may have a more complicated relationship with community connection. Participants included 26 sexual minority trans adults who ranged in age from 1...

Would you like your research to be responsive to ever-changing understandings of how to measure gender/sex/sexuality variables? As the research landscape changes, this tool serves as a guide for attending to inadequate measures used in the past and trying to plan and design better research in the future. It cover topics like accounting for shifts i...

Despite recent trans-affirming research centering experiences of gender dysphoria and its relation to psychological outcomes, there is a dearth of research studying the components of experiences of gender dysphoria. This has limited the ability of clinicians to intervene and reduce the distress caused by gender dysphoria. The current study utilized...

Background: Transgender Women of Color are more likely to experience oppression at the hands of healthcare providers than their transgender White counterparts. However, there is a paucity of research on the experiences of Latina transgender women in the United States. Aims: Using an intersectionality theory framework, the present study aimed to in...

Introduction: The present study focuses on the microaggressions that transmasculine individuals are subjected to by their gynecological healthcare providers. While microaggressions have begun to be more frequently studied in the literature, no studies currently exist that examine how they are experienced by trans individuals undergoing gynecologica...

Tool #1 in the Gender & Sex in Method & Measurement Research Equity Toolkit is for researchers who are interested in ensuring that their research eligibility criteria are precise, inclusive and clearly communicated.

Tool #3 in the Gender & Sex in Method & Measurement Research Equity Toolkit is about sampling plans and data analyses. Whether you're engaging in planned or emergent analyses, you need to ensure you're thinking about people who are marginalized based on their genders, sexes and sexualities. It covers topics like achieving statistical power with min...

Tool #2 in the Gender & Sex in Method & Measurement Research Equity Toolkit, this resource provides guidance and recommendations on how to effectively recruit research participants who are marginalized and minoritized based on their genders, sexes and sexualities. The tool covers online and community-based recruitment, compensation, research fatigu...

This tool helps researchers understand whether, when and how to ask participants about their genders & sexes. There is no single, correct way to measure people’s genders and sexes, in part because these terms have multiple meanings. This tool serves as a guide to walk researchers through some common approaches to gender and sex measurement with a f...

Historically, feelings of community connection have been linked to decreases in negative mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. However, scholarship has consistently focused this research on lesbian women and gay men, without acknowledging the potential nuances within the LGBTQ community. The...

Belonging and community connection are important for all people, but are particularly important for bi+ (including bisexual, pansexual, queer, and other plurisexual) individuals due to experiences of anti-bisexual stigma and delegitimization by both heterosexual and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities. A gap in the l...

Parental acceptance is critical to the well-being of sexual minority youth, yet little research has been conducted with fathers, or with Latinx parents of sexual minorities. Understanding Latinx fathers’ cultural context and how it operates to facilitate or challenge acceptance of their sexual minority child could contribute new knowledge regarding...

The present research explored transgender individuals’ subjective ratings of two clinical measures of gender dysphoria: the Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults (GIDYQ-AA) and the Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Scale (UGDS). Participants read each scale and provided a global rating regarding how well they captured the...

The present study aimed to expand current understandings of gender dysphoria by explicating the social context in which it is experienced and by centering the analysis on the lived experience of trans individuals. Data were collected online from a non-clinical sample comprised of 610 transgender participants. Participants answered two open-ended pr...

Abstract: Statement of Problem: Gender dysphoria has been the central diagnostic lens through which transgender experiences are conceptualized in the clinical literature (Drescher, 2015; Drescher, Cohen-Kettenis, & Winter, 2012). Two dimensional measures of gender dysphoria are commonly used in clinical settings: Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Q...

This study focuses on the microaggressions that gender non-conforming and agender identified transgender individuals receive from their romantic partners. While microaggressions have been studied in the romantic relationships of transgender individuals, gender non-conforming and agender individuals' experiences of microaggressions have not been the...

Background: The current study examines the complexity of transgender self-identification. Patterns of self-identification are considered across both gender identity (transfeminine, transmasculine, gender non-conforming, and agender) and across normative (binary) and non-normative (nonbinary) conceptualizations of gender identity. The current resear...

Microaffirmations are small, interpersonal interactions that communicate validation for an identity. The present study focuses on transgender microaffirmations received from romantic partners. Participants included 339 self-identified transgender adults in a romantic relationship (currently or within the past 5 years). Participants were recruited v...

The purpose of this symposium is to review the historical impact of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) political administrations, policies, and legislation on LGBTQ well-being. Presentations will focus on the impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on LGBTQ people and will include some time for audience discussion and questions.

This study focuses on the impact of the 2016 US presidential election on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) peoples' relationships with their family-of-origin. Although family relationships play an important role for all people, GLBTQ individuals' relationships with their families are particularly important during times of socio...

Gender is one of the first identities we learn and binary distinctions based on gender (e.g. girl/boy, woman/man, cisgender/transgender) are pervasive. The conceptualization of gender identity among transgender individuals is uniquely complicated by dichotomous notions of gender/sex. This is particularly true for individuals in the transgender comm...

Microaggressions are brief verbal, behavioural or environmental slights that communicate hostility or offence. Microaggressions that come from an individual’s friends can be seen as more interpersonally aggressive and more upsetting than when coming from someone who the individual does not know. The present study examines transgender microaggressio...

The current study examines the complexity of transgender self-identification. Through the use of an intersectional feminist approach, patterns of self-identification are considered across gender identity. Derived from Galupo, Mitchell, & Davis’ (2015) work understanding the multiple identities endorsed by a sexual minority population, the current r...

The present research investigates the way individuals under the bisexual umbrella conceptualize their sexual identity. Participants included 172 adults, who self-identify as bisexual, pansexual, and queer. Participants individually completed an online survey in which they were asked to describe their sexual identity. Qualitative responses were anal...

The present research investigates the way individuals under the bisexual umbrella conceptualize their sexual identity. Participants included 172 adults who self-identified as bisexual, pansexual, and queer. Participants individually completed an online survey in which they were asked to describe their sexual identity. Qualitative responses were ana...

In today’s culture, binary distinctions based on gender (i.e. girl/boy, cisgender/transgender) are pervasive, as gender is one of the first identities children learn. The binary conceptualization among transgender individuals is further complicated by the dichotomization of sex and gender. This dichotomy is particularly noticeable by individuals in...