Woodland, Candace2025-04-302025-04-302025https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22066This qualitative master’s thesis project explores the ways in which nonbinary people experience gender identity development. Eleven semi-structured interviews with nonbinary people were conducted and analyzed in order to answer the central research question: How do nonbinary people come to realize that they are nonbinary? Based on the findings from these interviews, the author proposes that nonbinary identity development can be understood through a framework of four common overlapping experiences: (1) Unresolved Dissonance, during which one feels dissonance between their binary gender and their self-concept, but does not meaningfully acknowledge or address it; (2) Catalyst(s) for Change, during which one encounters events or information which prompt them to question their binary gender and consider a nonbinary one; (3) Complication and Delay, during which one encounters internal and/or external barriers that temporarily prevent them from coming into their nonbinary identities; and finally, (4) Identity Actualization, which occurs when one experiences stimuli and/or events that allow them to overcome the aforementioned barriers, and shift their self-concepts to include nonbinary gender identities.enAvailable to the World Wide WebNonbinaryTransgenderIdentity developmentGender identityThesis