Suchergebnisse

We offer a theoretical framework to advance our understanding of the psychology of transgender service members—the most understudied and mysterious class of US military personnel. Using grounded theory methods with interview data collected from clandestinely-serving active-duty, guard and reserve military members from the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps who self-identified as transgender or transsexual, we reveal a latent structure of Self Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000). The variance in our data heavily centers around the concepts of autonomy, competence and relatedness, illustrating how post-DADT military personnel policy, which excludes open transgender service, impacts the mental well-being of transgender service members.

This study is the first to systematically inquire into the lives of transgender men and women currently serving across the branches of the US military in the post-"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal era. We employed an interview protocol from a stratified convenience sample ( n = 14) of clandestinely serving active duty, guard and reserve military members from the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps who self-identified as transgender or transsexual. Using phenomenology as a methodological foundation, we present a revelatory case study based on lived experiences from firsthand accounts furthering the collective understanding of gender dysphoria in a contemporary military context.