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Exploring Transgender Legal Name Change as a Potential Structural Intervention for Mitigating Social Determinants of Health Among Transgender Women of Color

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Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effects of legal name change on socioeconomic factors, general and transgender-related health care access and utilization, and transgender-related victimization in a sample of young transgender women (transwomen) of color. A cross-sectional group comparison approach was used to assess the potential effects of legal name change. A convenience sample of young transwomen enrolled in a no-cost legal name change clinic were recruited to complete a 30-min interviewer-guided telephone survey including sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors, health and well-being, health care utilization, transgender transition-related health care, and transgender-related victimization. Sixty-five transgender women of color (37 = pre-name change group, 28 = post-name change group) completed the survey. Results indicated that the transwomen in the post-name change group were significantly older than the pre-name change group. In age-adjusted analyses, the post-name change group was significantly more likely to have a higher monthly income and stable housing than the pre-name change group. No significant differences were observed for general health care utilization; however, a significantly greater percentage of transwomen in the pre-name change group reported postponing medical care due to their gender identity. In addition, a significantly larger proportion of transwomen in the pre-name change group reported using non-prescribed hormones injected by friends and experiencing verbal harassment by family and friends compared to transwomen in the post-name change group. Findings suggest that legal name change may be an important structural intervention for low-income transwomen of color, providing increased socioeconomic stability and improved access to primary and transition-related health care.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge and thank all of our participants and the staff at the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc. for their dedicated support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3), University of Chicago, 6030 S. Ellis Ave, Edelstone 266, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Brandon J. Hill, Alida Bouris, Rayna Brown, Trevor Bak, Kris Rosentel & Alicia VandeVusse

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Section of Family Planning and Contraceptive Research, University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Brandon J. Hill

  3. The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University, 1165 E. Third St., Morrison Hall 313, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Brandon J. Hill & Richard Crosby

  4. College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, 111 Washington Ave, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA

    Richard Crosby

  5. School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, 969 E. 60th St, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Alida Bouris & Kris Rosentel

  6. Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, University of Chicago, 5837 S. Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Alida Bouris

  7. Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc., 20 West 20th St., Suite 705, New York, NY, 10011, USA

    Michael Silverman

  8. School of Public Health, Georgia State University, 33 Gilmer St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA

    Laura Salazar

Authors
  1. Brandon J. Hill
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  2. Richard Crosby
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  3. Alida Bouris
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  4. Rayna Brown
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  5. Trevor Bak
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  6. Kris Rosentel
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  7. Alicia VandeVusse
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  8. Michael Silverman
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  9. Laura Salazar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brandon J. Hill.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, grant number UL1-TR000430 and The University of Chicago, Medicine and Biological Sciences Office of Diversity and Inclusion, B.J. Hill & M. Silverman (PIs). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or The University of Chicago Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hill, B.J., Crosby, R., Bouris, A. et al. Exploring Transgender Legal Name Change as a Potential Structural Intervention for Mitigating Social Determinants of Health Among Transgender Women of Color. Sex Res Soc Policy 15, 25–33 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-017-0289-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-017-0289-6

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