The Gender Identity Scale: Adapting the Gender Unicorn to measure gender identity.

Key takeaways

(file:///C:\Users\scott\Zotero\storage\IQRESEP2\Ho%20and%20Mussap%20-%202019%20-%20The%20Gender%20Identity%20Scale%20Adapting%20the%20Gender%20Uni.pdf)

Bibliography: Ho, F., Mussap, A.J., 2019. The Gender Identity Scale: Adapting the Gender Unicorn to measure gender identity. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity 6, 217–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000322

Authors:: Felicity Ho, Alexander J. Mussap

Collections:: Gender Scale

First-page: 217

Abstract

We adapt the Gender Unicorn to create a measure of gender—the Gender Identity Scale (GIS)—in which participants are asked to report their level of identification with each of three genders: female/woman/girl, male/man/boy, other gender(s). We demonstrate that responses to the GIS are consistent with trans and gender diverse people’s own designations of gender.

Citations

content: "@hoGenderIdentityScale2019" -file:@hoGenderIdentityScale2019

Reading notes

Imported on 2025-04-27 17:42

⭐ Important

& We administer the GIS to a sample of 269 self-identified trans and gender diverse adults and use a latent class analysis of responses to identify seven gender classes. (p. 217)
Super important point.:
- & Despite the complexity of gender as a construct and the diversity of gender identities present in the population, many researchers continue to measure their participants’ gender in a manner that conflates gender with sex by using a single self-report item that offer participants a choice of female and male (Tate et al., 2013; Treharne, 2011; Westbrook & Saperstein, 2015). (p. 217)
& Participants whose gender identity does not conform to the woman/man binary may find themselves excluded from such research or their gender misrepresented and/or constrained to inappropriate gender categories (Treharne, 2011). This could potentially underestimate the effects of gender and gender diversity (Westbrook & Saperstein, 2015). (p. 217)
& Although the Gender Unicorn consists of five constructs, only two— gender identity and sex assigned at birth—were included in the GIS. (p. 219)

⛔ Weaknesses and caveats

! it calls into question the adequacy of describing gender along a continuum anchored by woman and man, and the adequacy of only having two dimensions to measure gender. It also provides the basis for representing gender in ways that are not overly dependent on linguistic gender descriptors. (p. 218)
! Physical and emotional attraction are concepts related to sexuality rather than gender (American Psychological Association, 2015; Pan & Moore, 2014), and thus we did not include them in the GIS. (p. 219)
! We also did not include gender expression because, although gender expression may be a way of communicating gender, it is not necessarily reflective of a person’s gender identity (American Psychological Association, 2015; Westbrook & Saperstein, 2015). (p. 219)