Professor of English and Modern Languages in the College of Arts and Sciences Nels P. Highberg and Alexis B. Bernhardt, a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology (PsyD) at the Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology (GIPP), recently published an article with researchers from the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. “Sequins, Survival, and Selfhood: An Emergent Theory of Drag as a Lifelong Identity Process Among Older LGBTQ+ Drag Performers” appeared in Research on Aging at the end of July 2026.
The article presents an emerging model for understanding drag artistry as a vital part of lifelong identity development. Based on interviews with twenty-one LGBTQ+ drag performers in the United States aged 50-90, the authors position drag as a relational, adaptive, and culturally situated life-course practice that sustains continuity of self while resisting marginalization and preserving queer cultural memory.
This is the second article Dr. Highberg has co-authored as part of the UConn Drag Queen Research Project, and the first for Ms. Bernhardt. With the team, they continue to develop further articles and conference presentations.
For more information, see the research team website.