From the American Psychological Association (which historically pathologized LGBT+ behavior), researchers found that bullying over LGBT status alone is completely responsible for how well that 13 to 19 year-old associates with gender as an adult.
We also found that school victimization due to LGBT status between the ages of 13 and 19 fully accounts for the associations between gender nonconformity and young adult adjustment, measured as depression and life satisfaction.
The researchers also analyzed their data to make sure other kinds of bullying weren’t responsible for depression and happiness.
However, school victimization for other reasons does not mediate this association.
This effect of bullying on the gender development of queer youth affects youth of all genders equally.
On the other hand, we did not find support for our hypothesis that the strength between gender nonconformity and school LGBT victimization would be stronger for boys. The process through which early gender nonconformity affects later psychosocial adjustment is similar for boys and girls.
Homophobic bullying in particular continues on into the young adult years and negatively impacts quality of life.
We found that the negative impact of specifically homophobic school victimization continues into the young adult years and affects quality of life and capacity to enjoy life.
The researchers do recommend that school policies specifically prohibiting queer-targeted bullying will reduce these negative outcomes.
Enactment of school policies that specifically prohibit victimization due to LGBT status, gender nonconformity, and other types of bias-related harassment can help reduce negative psychosocial outcomes in LGBT and gender-nonconforming young people. Thus, although it is clear that all victimization should be prohibited in schools, these findings specifically indicate the need for antibullying policies that enumerate categories often targeted by bullies.
The authors also seem thoughtful about how they are considering their transgender participants:
We also tested the model without transgender participants. The findings (available upon request) were similar to the results based on the full sample (i.e., the indirect pathway was significant and all pathways were of similar strength and the same direction). On the basis of these results, and because our measure of LGBT school victimization was inclusive of transgender experiences, we present finding based on the full sample.
Citation: Russell B. Toomey, Caitlyn Ryan, Rafael M. Diaz, Noel A. Card, & Stephen T. Russell. (2010) Gender-Nonconforming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: School Victimization and Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment. Developmental Psychology 2010, Vol. 46, No. 6, 1580-1589. (pdf)