par Servais, Julie ;Godin, Isabelle ;Vanhoutte, Bram
Référence Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Global Forum on Development, Health, and Rights(17 au 19/08/2026: Utrecht - Netherlands)
Publication Publié, 2026-02-12
Abstract de conférence
Résumé : Introduction : While existing research on transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth primarily focuses on mental health outcomes such as depression and suicidality, fewer studies address how young people themselves conceptualize and construct well-being within their daily environments. This study investigates how TGD youth living in French-speaking Belgium navigate experiences of recognition, belonging, and authenticity in social contexts often shaped by cisnormative norms. The analysis mobilizes the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 2003) to understand the interplay between distal and proximal stressors and the Theory of Plural Dispositions (Lahire, 2005), to examine how individuals draw upon heterogeneous internalized dispositions to adapt, resist, and pursue coherence across settings.Aims : The study aims to explore how TGD young adults (15–24) define and sustain their well-being, how they mobilize personal and social resources in the face of minority stress, and how recognition operates as a central condition for self-continuity and safety.Methods : Thirteen participants took part in a Photovoice project conducted between October 2024 and April 2025. Each participant created photographs or other visual materials representing spaces significant to their well-being and discussed them during individual interviews structured by the SHOWED technique (Wang & Burris, 1997). This participatory approach encouraged critical reflection and allowed participants to link personal experiences to broader social contexts. Data were analyzed using Textual-Visual Thematic Analysis (Trombetta, 2022), integrating visual and narrative materials to identify convergent meanings and interpretive patterns.Results : The findings show that TGD youth actively construct well-being as a process of coherence-building within constraining environments. Early experiences of acceptance or denial, particularly from family and educational institutions, strongly shape the legitimacy of self-expression and the sense of belonging. Schools often operate ambivalently as both sites of stigma and potential spaces of repair, where supportive peers or inclusive policies can transform exclusion into empowerment. Masking and other self-protective strategies help reduce exposure to cisnormative pressures but lead to emotional exhaustion and identity fragmentation. Conversely, community and safe spaces offer conditions for authenticity, mutual recognition, and collective healing. Access to healthcare remains uneven and mediated by gatekeeping logics, while migration and precarity further complicate the pursuit of stability and recognition. Conclusion : Well-being among TGD youth is not simply the absence of distress but the active weaving of coherence within fragmented contexts. Recognition, whether familial, institutional, or from peers and communities, emerges as the essential condition for self-continuity, safety, and the possibility to imagine a meaningful future.

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