The National Institutes of Health awarded Loren Bauerband, assistant professor, $411,000 to study the relationship between external experiences and internal responses for transgender and gender non-binary individuals. Their research will help practitioners tailor mental health interventions for individuals with social gender dysphoria.

Dr. Bauerband is co-PI on the project, “Gender Dysphoria as a Measure of Proximal Stress: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Novel Measure of Social Gender Dysphoria,” with Dr. Paz Galupo of Towson University.

The two-year project will examine gender dysphoria as a proximal stressor (an internal response to social pressures or prejudices), rooted in a dynamic interaction between gender identity and societal expectations and norms around gender. This approach will shift the theoretical framework from pathology and diagnosis to one that emphasizes social context in order to improve mental health interventions.