Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure music teachers’ attitudes toward transgender individuals and toward school practices that support transgender students. Participants (N = 612) included men and women who teach a variety of music subjects in elementary, middle, and high schools, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. An online questionnaire was distributed to participants representing 28 states in the United States. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information and several attitudinal statements designed to measure music teachers’ attitudes toward transgender individuals (MT-ATTI) and music teachers’ attitudes toward supportive school practices (MT-ATSSP). The results indicated that participants had fairly positive attitudes overall. Multiple regression analyses also revealed that gender and political persuasion on social issues significantly predicted participants’ scores on the MT-ATTI and the MT-ATSSP; female participants had more positive attitudes than did male participants, and individuals identifying as more socially liberal had more positive attitudes than did those identifying as more socially conservative. The variables of school location and age did not significantly predict scores on the MT-ATTI or the MT-ATSSP. Implications for teacher preparation programs and professional development are discussed, and future directions for research are recommended

Keywords

transgender trans*LGBT transgender students attitudes

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bartolome

(2014, April). Melanie’s story: Examining the perspectives of a transgender preservice music educator. Poster presented at the 2014 NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference. Abstract retrieved from http://www.nafme.org/wp-content/files/2014/08/Identity-and-Socialization.pdf

Beemyn

(2005). Serving the needs of transgender college students. In Sears

J. T.

(Ed.), Gay, lesbian, and transgender issues in education: Programs, policies, and practices (pp. 105–123). Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press.

Bergonzi

(2009). Sexual orientation and music education: Continuing a tradition. Music Educators Journal, 96(2), 21–25. doi:10.1177/0027432109350929

Blaise

(2005). A feminist poststructuralist study of children “doing” gender in an urban kindergarten classroom. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 20, 85–108. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2005.01.002

Braw

(2014, September 29). The three letter word driving a gender revolution. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/03/three-letter-word-driving-gender-revolution-272654.html

Brill

Pepper

(2008). The transgender child. San Francisco, CA: Cleis Press.

Bussey

Bandura

(1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106, 676–713.

Collins

(2003). Pretesting survey instruments: An overview of cognitive methods. Quality of Life Research, 12, 229–238.

D’Addario

(2015, January 11). Jeffrey Tambor dedicated his Golden Globe to the transgender community. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/3663021/golden-globes-2015-jeffrey-tambor-transparent/

10.

Damrose

E. J.

(2009). Qualifying the impact of androgen therapy on the female larynx. Auris Nasus Larynx, 36, 110–112. doi:10.1016/j.anl.2008.03.002

11.

DePalma

Atkinson

(2010). The nature of institutional heteronormativity in primary schools and practice-based responses. Teaching and Teacher Education 26, 1669–1676. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2010.06.018

12.

Eliason

M. J.

Hughes

(2004). Treatment counselors’ attitudes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered clients: Urban vs. rural settings. Substance Use & Misuse, 39(4), 625–644. doi:10.1081/JA-120030063

13.

Everitt

B. S.

(2010). The Cambridge dictionary of statistics (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

14.

Field

(2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

15.

Foden-Vencil

(2015, January 10). In Oregon, Medicaid now covers transgender medical care. NPR News. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/10/376154299/in-oregon-medicaid-now-covers-transgender-medical-care

16.

Garrett

M. L.

(2012). The LGBTQ component of 21st-century music teacher training: Strategies for inclusion from the research literature. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 31(1), 55–62. doi:10.1177/8755123312458294

17.

Grant

J. M.

Mottet

L. A.

Tanis

Harrison

Herman

J. L.

Keisling

(2011). Injustice at every turn: A report of the national transgender discrimination survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

18.

Greytak

E. A.

Kosciw

J. G.

Diaz

E. M.

(2009). Harsh realities: The experiences of transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York, NY: GLSEN.

19.

Haywood

(2010). LGBT self-identity and implications in the emerging music education dialogue. Presentation for Conference, “Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 23–26, 2010. Retrieved from http://bcrme.press.illinois.edu/proceedings/Establishing_Identity

20.

Herek

G. M.

(1988). Heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: Correlates and gender differences. The Journal of Sex Research, 25, 451–477.

21.

Hershberger

I. G.

(2005). The effects of singing exercises and melodic intonation therapy (MIT) on the male-to-female transgender voice. (Unpublished master’s thesis). The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

22.

Hill

D. B.

Willoughby

B. L. B.

(2005). The development and validation of the genderism and transphobia scale. Sex Roles, 53(7/8), 531–544. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-7140-x

23.

Jorgensen

E. R.

(2010). Rethinking gender and music education: A rejoinder to Nelson Rodriguez. Presentation for Conference, “Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 23–26, 2010. Retrieved from http://bcrme.press.illinois.edu/proceedings/Establishing_Identity

24.

Kaiser

M. W.

Seitz

K. M.

Walters

E. A.

(2014). Transgender policy: What is fair for all students? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 17, 3–16. doi:10.1177/1555458913518538

25.

Kennedy

(1988). Estimation of the squared cross-validity coefficient in the context of best subset regression. Applied Psychological Measurement, 12, 231–237.

26.

Kosciew

J. G.

Greytak

E. A.

Bartklewicz

M. J.

Boesen

M. J.

Palmer

N. A.

(2012). The 2011 national school climate survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York, NY: The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

27.

Krantz

J. H.

Dalal

(2000). Validity of web-based psychological research. In Birnbaum

N. H.

(Ed.), Psychological experiments on the Internet (pp. 35–60). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

28.

McGuire

J. K.

Anderson

C. R.

Toomey

R. B.

Russell

S. T.

(2010). School climate for transgender youth: A mixed method investigation of student experiences and school responses. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 1175–1188. doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9540-7

29.

Mertler

C. A.

Vannatta

R. A.

(2010). Advanced and multivariate statistical methods: Practical application and interpretation (4th ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

30.

Meyer

E. J.

(2008). Gendered harassment in secondary schools: Understanding teachers’ (non) interventions. Gender and Education, 20, 555–570. doi:10.1080/09540250802213115

31.

Molloy

P. M.

(2014, April 29). U.S. Department of Education extends protection to trans students. Advocate.com. Retrieved from http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/04/29/us-department-education-extends-protections-trans-students

32.

Morris

(2015, January 12). Transgender 13-year-old Zoey having therapy. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30783983

33.

Natale-Abramo

(2010). Sexuality and the construction of instrumental music teacher identity. Presentation for Conference, “Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 23–26, 2010. Retrieved from http://bcrme.press.illinois.edu/proceedings/Establishing_Identity

34.

Nichols

(2013). Rie’s story, Ryan’s journey: Music in the life of a transgender student. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61, 262–279. doi:10.1177/0022429413498259

35.

Nixon

(2010). Discrimination, performance and recuperation: How teachers and pupils challenge and recover discourses of sexualities in schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 145–151. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.05.003

36.

Office of the Attorney General. (2014). Memorandum: Treatment of transgender employment discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Washington, DC: Office of the Attorney General.

37.

Parsad

Spiegelman

(2012). Arts education in public elementary and secondary schools: 1999–2000 and 2009–10 (NCES 2012–014). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

38.

Rands

(2009). Considering transgender people in education: A gender-complex approach. Journal of Teacher Education, 60, 419–431. doi:10.1177/0022487109341475

39.

Rea

L. M.

Parker

R. A.

(2013). Designing and conducting survey research: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

40.

Reips

U. D.

(2001). The web experimental psychology lab: Five years of data collection on the Internet. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 33, 201–211.

41.

Rodriguez

(2010). Queer studies in education: Some research portraits. Keynote presentation for conference, “Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 23–26, 2010. Retrieved from http://bcrme.press.illinois.edu/proceedings/Establishing_Identity

42.

Stein

(1960). Multiple regression. In Olkin

. (Eds.), Contributions to probability and statistics (pp. 424–443). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

43.

Steinmetz

(2014, May 29). The transgender tipping point. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/

44.

Stevens

J. P.

(2009). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

45.

Sweet

Paparo

S. A.

(2010). Starting the conversation in music teacher education programs. Presentation for Conference, “Establishing Identity: LGBT Studies & Music Education,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 23–26, 2010. Retrieved from http://bcrme.press.illinois.edu/proceedings/Establishing_Identity

46.

Taylor

D. M.

(2011). Identity negotiation: An intergenerational examination of lesbian and gay band directors. Research and Issues in Music Education, 9(1). Retrieved from http://www.stthomas.edu/rimeonline/vol9/taylorfinal.htm

47.

Thompson

(2015, March 5). Transgender students learn to navigate school halls. NPR News. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/03/05/388464316/transgender-students-learn-to-navigate-school-halls

48.

Vogt

D. S.

King

D. W.

King

L. A.

(2004). Focus groups in psychological assessment: Enhancing content validity by consulting members of the target population. Psychological Assessment, 16(3), 231–243. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.16.3.231

49.

Walch

S. E.

Ngamake

S. T.

Francisco

Stitt

R. L.

Shingler

K. A.

(2012). The attitudes toward transgendered individuals scale: Psychometric properties. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 1283–1291. doi:10.1007/s10508-012-9995-6

50.

Whitehead-Pleaux

Donnenwerth

A. M.

Robinson

Hardy

Oswanski

L. G.

Forinash

Hearns

M. C.

Anderson

Tan

(2013). Music therapists’ attitudes and actions regarding the LGBTQ community: A preliminary report. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 40, 409–414.

51.

Whitehead-Pleaux

Donnenwerth

A. M.

Robinson

Hardy

Oswanski

L. G.

Forinash

Hearns

M. C.

Anderson

York

(2012). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning: Best practices in music therapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, 30(2), 158–166. doi:10.1093/mtp/30.2.158

52.

Wyatt

T. J.

Oswalt

S. B.

White

Peterson

F. L.

(2008). Are tomorrow’s teachers ready to deal with diverse students? Teacher candidates’ attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Teacher Education Quarterly, Spring, 171–185.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.07 MB

0.11 MB

0.07 MB

0.00 MB