The Role of Caring in Authenticating the Self: Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Individuals’ Experiences of Care

For transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) populations, socializing can be unpredictable and unstable. Research emphasizes the breadth and depth of harm incurred from socially adverse and violent experiences yet frequently overlooks daily experiences of care and their long-term impacts on well-being. The present study fills this gap by illuminating transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals’ experiences with caring. Thirty TGNC individuals from across the globe representing a spectrum of gender identities and social experiences participated in life history narrative interviews. Using Giddens’ structuration theory and Sartrean and Beauvoirian existentialist lenses, the findings elaborate on three types of caring practices exercised by the participants and their peers, spouses, families, and communities: caring through occupational roles, caring through daily practices, and caring as support. Caring played an integral role in authenticating the self through social interaction. Caring further acted as a regenerative resource, replenishing mental, emotional, and social resources and facilitating individual and collective well-being. The findings have vast implications, including enhancing sociological and philosophical discussions on care and authenticity, employing caring practices in interpersonal and group interventions, and supporting TGNC populations’ social adaptation and life fulfilment.