Here is a selection of my published papers and public writing. Feel free to contact me if you would like a pdf or have questions!
Sociology
Kerr, M. (2026). Evidence, expertise, and exploration: Politics of knowledge in gender therapy. The Sociological Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2026.2656897.
Professional mental health organizations widely embrace gender-affirmative therapy as an approach to supporting transgender (trans) clients in their identities, shifting away from historically pathologizing views. However, an increasingly influential gender exploratory therapy movement now urges therapists to probe trans clients’ identities for pathological causes, presenting their model as a neutral alternative to both affirmation and “conversion” or change therapy rooted in conservative religious beliefs. Using a qualitative, comparative content analysis, I examine the discursive strategies that advocates of gender exploratory, change, and affirmative therapies use to legitimate their models. I find that although gender exploratory therapy advocates assert a boundary between their practices and religious change therapy, these models involve similar interventions based on a construction of trans identities as unhealthy deviations from “biological” reality. Moreover, both exploratory and change therapy advocates strategically mobilize doubt to challenge professional and state regulations and promote their favored practices. These results integrate literatures on boundary work and the politics of doubt to illustrate how professional movements legitimate interventions that contradict prevailing health-scientific knowledge. Additionally, this analysis contributes to trans studies by elucidating framing processes that potentially disseminate re-pathologizing views of trans identity to diverse audiences.
Kerr, M. (2025). Invisibilization under the microscope: Experiences of PhD students with chronic illness. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 19(2), 146–158. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000643
A growing body of research has focused on experiences of chronic illness in higher education, but few studies have specifically centered chronically ill PhD students. To address this gap, this collective case study examines how PhD students with chronic illness describe their health care, academic, and social experiences. Drawing on data from semistructured interviews, I find that participants encounter an overarching pattern of invisibilization under the microscope, describing simultaneous forms of invisibility and hypervisibility at the convergence of chronic illness and PhD status. This pattern extends across multiple levels, including interpersonal interactions, institutional systems, and broader systems of power within academia. These findings contribute to critical analyses of ableism and disablism as interwoven, deeply entrenched logics within higher education. Finally, this research offers directions for creating anti-oppressive PhD environments that embrace scholars with a diversity of health experiences, needs, and abilities.
Kerr, M. and Rebecca Ewert. (2025). Constructing the autistic-transgender intersection: A critical discourse analysis. Sociology of Health and Illness, 47, e70063. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.70063.
Researchers report a statistical intersection between autism and transgender (trans) identities. Claims about this estimated relationship have recently proliferated within and beyond scientific research, particularly amidst escalating political struggles over the rights and recognition of trans people. Our study critically analyses discursive patterns among these claims to investigate how and to what effects diverse actors construct the intersection of autism and trans identities. We qualitatively analysed a purposive sample of 30 texts, including psychological research, clinical literature, news and opinion articles, state legislation, activist materials and autistic trans individuals’ published narratives. We propose that claims about the autistic-trans intersection can be understood through four discursive types: psychiatrisation, repressive protection, medical management and affirmation and reclamation. These types represent differently patterned ways of (1) explaining medical vs. social ‘causes’ of the intersection and (2) legitimising versus delegitimising autistic trans identities, with each type promoting distinctive medical, cultural and political practices as responses. In this case study, we present the autistic-trans intersection as a site at which social actors with varied political aims and differential access to power reproduce and resist normative systems of gender and ability, pursue varied processes of de/medicalisation and negotiate expert knowledge and uncertainty.
Public Health
Rich, A.J., McGorray, E.L., Felt, D., Kerr, M., Baldwin-SoRelle, C., Beach, L., Phillips II, G., & Poteat, T. (2025). Sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity measurement in health research: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. LGBT Health. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2024.0105
Toward the goal of developing standardized sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SSOGI) measures that can be used across demographics and regions, this review aimed to synthesize how SSOGI have been assessed within health research. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed research developing or evaluating SSOGI measures. Eligible studies reported original peer-reviewed research focused on SSOGI measurement in adult populations in the United States from 2012 through June 7, 2022. Search results were screened for inclusion using an innovative multiple-phase method of stratification, supervised clustering, and supervised machine learning. We conducted manual screening and data extraction in Covidence. In total, 17,814 citations were returned from all databases, with 30 studies eligible for final inclusion in the review. Gender identity measurement was the focus of half of the included studies (51%), followed by sexual orientation (40%), with little asexuality-specific measurement research (n = 1 study), and beyond sexual orientation, research on sex or variations in sexual characteristics (n = 1 study, each). Although the field of sexual and gender minority health research has grown exponentially over the past decade, there remains a dearth of literature focused on the development and evaluation of SSOGI measures. We found heterogeneity across the SSOGI measurement literature including by study design, sampling strategy, and study population. Important gaps include the need for attention to the measurement of sex, variations in sex characteristics, and asexuality-inclusive sexual orientation measures.
Davoudpour, S., Kerr, M., & Phillips, G. (2025). Alcohol and HIV risk behaviors in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2005-2021: A systematic review. Healthcare, 13(18), 2370. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13182370.
Alcohol use is a significant public health concern for adolescents, not only for its direct health impacts but also for its association with other health risk behaviors. In particular, alcohol use has been linked to sexual behaviors that may increase the risk of HIV transmission. This systematic review provides a deeper understanding of relationships between various alcohol- and HIV-related risk behaviors among adolescents by synthesizing studies using Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed, published in English, and analyzed associations between alcohol use and HIV risk behaviors using YRBS data from 2005–2021. Two authors independently screened 1133 records for eligibility, with 17 studies included in the final review. The included studies consistently found a significant positive association between the frequency of alcohol use and binge drinking and a greater number of sexual partners. However, the evidence for an association between alcohol use and condom non-use was mixed. A key finding was the wide variation in study methodology, including the use of lifetime versus recent and dichotomized versus ordinal measures. Additionally, few studies were guided by a theoretical framework. The findings support a consistent link between alcohol use and having a greater number of sexual partners but highlight mixed evidence regarding condom use and little evidence for an association with HIV testing. This review demonstrates a need for more nuanced, theory-driven analyses that better utilize the multidimensional data available in the YRBS to capture the complex nature of risk behaviors.
Kerr, M., Davoudpour, S., Phillips, G. II, Beach, L. B., & Felt, D. (2024). Mental health of gender minority older adults in the United States: A systematic review. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 13(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000708
While the mental health of gender minority (GM) individuals has garnered increased attention in recent years, GM older adults (i.e., aged 50 and older) remain overlooked in research. Thus, we conducted a systematic review with the aim of synthesizing and evaluating existing research regarding mental health concerns and disparities, risk factors, and protective factors among GM older adults in the United States. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement, we conducted a search in PubMed, PsycINFO, PsychiatryOnline, Gender Studies Database, GenderWatch, Scopus, and Web of Science. We included peer-reviewed journal articles that were published in English from 2010 onwards, reported research conducted in the United States, and presented data on mental health-related outcomes among GM adults aged 50 years or older. The 31 studies included in this review identified disparities in suicidality, depression and other specific mental health conditions, and general measures of mental health among GM older adults. Studies highlighted risk factors including stigma, violence, and discrimination, along with protective factors including access to social support and affirming health care resources. However, patterns of methodological characteristics (e.g., unrepresentative samples, cross-sectional designs, and measures and analyses that obscured GM older adults’ diverse identities) presented important limitations, while the small and heterogeneous nature of the literature yielded limited evidence regarding specific mental health outcomes. There is a critical need for further research that addresses existing methodological gaps and investigates how intersecting forms of marginalization impact the mental health of GM older adults across the life course.
Public Writing
Kerr, M. (2024, September 30). Climate matters for the autistic community. Policy Impact Project. A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. [Blog]. https://policyimpactproject.org/climate-matters-for-autistic-community/
This plain-language blog post for the Drexel Autism Institute (written during my time as a research assistant) summarizes existing research on the particular impacts that climate change may have on the autism community. These impacts include disruptions to services, the exacerbation of co-occurring health concerns, and heat-related sensory issues.
Kerr, M. (2024, July 31). Busting myths about the intersection of autism and geneder identity. Policy Impact Project. A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. [Blog]. https://policyimpactproject.org/busting-myths-about-the-intersection-of-autism-and-trans-identity/
In another plain-language blog post, I discuss misunderstandings about the relationship between autism and gender diversity.
Maddie Kerr 