Vem får man vara i vårt samhälle? - Statens folkhälsoinstitut

or attempting to find our identity, to establish who you are and who we
can be (Homburger-Ericson 1977; Carlberg 1998). Research also shows
that young people in compulsory schools (grades 1–9) are more homophobic
than students at high school (Osbeck et al. 2003).
Young people in the LGBT groups are, then, a vulnerable group; they
are themselves seeking their identities and living with other young people
who are doing the same thing. This may increase the risk that young
LGBT individuals more than adults are subjected to phobic reactions,
particularly from other young people. The need of support for LGBT
youngsters is, therefore, particularly urgent. The support needed may
take the form of an improved educational input at compulsory school
(grades 1–9) regarding the LGBT area. This would include specialist
training and education for social workers, school psychologists and nurses
to ensure that youth guidance centres and other staff groups in contact
with young people have sufficient knowledge of the LGBT area.
4. Identity research and transgender
individuals in a historical perspective
4.1 Research on the understanding of self-awareness
and identity
Regarding understanding of our self and self-awareness, the general opinion
in society has been that we are only – or have only – one self and
that we are continually the same in different situations and through out
the whole of our lives (Thomas 1998). However, recent research on the
self and how to understand our consciousness gives a different answer.
We are not only one person but we have many sub-identities within us
which can partly exhibit different cognitive, emotional and be havioural
repertoires (Ornstein 1986; Rowan 1991; Rowan & Cooper 1999;
Thomas 1998) including different sexual identities or sexual preferences
(Docter 1988; Denny & Green 1996; Larsson & Bergström-Walan
1999; Larsson et al. 2003; Rowan 1991; Rowan & Cooper 1999).
The view that we have or can construct several different sub-identities
within ourselves is accepted by all the major psychological or socio -
logical schools belonging to different paradigms. Within cognitive science
the view that, for example, the individual has many different small
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