Mom, Dad, or Somewhere In Between: Role-Relational Ambiguity and Children of Transgender Parents

Objective: This study introduces the concept of role-relational ambiguity to explain the challenges some individuals face in adjusting to a parent's gender transition. Background: When a parent undergoes a gender transition, our society lacks both the language and social scripts to describe how parent-child relationships and roles should look afterward. Yet little is understood about how children of transgender parents experience a parent's transition. Method: Drawing from in-depth interviews with 30 adult children of transgender parents, this article documents the occurrence of role-relational ambiguity and how individuals manage this ambiguity in the long term. Results: Results indicate repeated discussions of role-relational ambiguity in a majority of participants. In the long term, participants developed a number of strategies for coping with role-relational ambiguity. Conclusion: Role-relational ambiguity is a common occurrence for the children of transgender people interviewed in this study. Yet, it is evident that most of these participants were actively engaged in attempts to restructure and redefine relationships with their transgender parents despite the obstacles presented by role-relational ambiguity. Implications: Role-relational ambiguity is an understandable response to unexpected family changes, and one that can be worked through with time, understanding, and the proper resources.