Development of the Attitudes Toward the Atypically Gendered Inventory (ATAG-I)

Thesis (PhD) - Indiana University, School of Education, 2008There are presumably two and only two kinds of people in the world: men and women. Above all else, male and female are seen as mutually exclusive, complementing but never overlapping, categories. Like much of the world, Western society rests on the assumption that all persons exist unambiguously as either man or woman. The foundation undergirding this work posits that the discrete categories of male and female fail to adequately describe that part of human experience referred to as sex and gender, evidenced by the existence of two naturally occurring challenges to this binary: the transgendered and the intersexed. The goal of this work was to develop a reliable and valid assessment of societal attitudes toward the atypically gendered. Construction of the ATAG-I involved five steps: 1) A list of potential items was composed via the domain-sampling method of instrument development based on content analysis of the relevant literature; 2) A retranslation task was conducted on a group of three atypically gendered participants; 3) A second retranslation task was conducted on a small group of naïve adults; 4) A test-retest analysis was conducted; 5) Data was collected on a large sample for reliability analyses and to gather evidence of content and construct validity. The result was a valid instrument that yielded highly reliable scores

McQueen, Kand S., Breaking the Gender Dichotomy: The Case for Transgender Education in School Curriculum, Teachers College Record, Date Published: August 14, 2006. http://www.tcrecond.org. ID number 12663.

Reviews knowledge about transgendered students; challenges the two-gender assumption and shows how this affects all students; argues for including transgender curriculum in our schools

Examining the Relationship Between the Overexcitabilities and Self-Concepts of Gifted Adolescents via Multivariate Cluster Analysis

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between gifted adolescents’ forms of overexcitabilities and selfconcepts. Clusters of adolescents were formed on the basis of their overexcitabilities, and these clusters of adolescents were then compared with regard to their self-concept scores. Gender differences were also examined. The sample consisted of 379 gifted adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 16 years of age. Forms of overexcitabilities were measured using the Overexcitabilities Questionnaire–II, and various facets of self-concept were measured using the Self-Description Questionnaire–II. Using cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and chi-square analysis, results suggested a distinct four-cluster solution, as well as differences between clusters in self-concept and gender. Within this research, four distinct clusters of adolescents were found, namely a Low Imaginational group, a High Intellectual group, a Low Imaginational/High Psychomotor group, and a Low Psychomotor group. Differences in self-concept were found to center on the Low Psychomotor group, such that this group scored significantly lower than the three other groups with regard to various facets of self-concept. Females significantly outnumbered males in the Low Psychomotor group. Thus, gifted adolescent females with a low psychomotor overexcitability score may be more prone to a lowered self-concept and may need intervention, counseling, or special activities/accommodations to buffer the potential self-concept deficits they may face