Transgender and Gender-Diverse People's Experiences of Minority Stress, Mental Health, and Resilience in Relation to Perceptions of Sociopolitical Contexts
Publication Date
2-1-2024
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Transgender Health
Volume
9
Issue
1
DOI
10.1089/trgh.2022.0047
First Page
14
Last Page
23
Abstract
Purpose: The sociopolitical context in which transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people live has significant effects on mental health. We examined whether perceptions of context (TGD people's perceptions of how TGD people were viewed) differed across four United States (U.S.) states and associations with mental health and identity pride, the mediational effects of minority stressors, and potential buffering effects of resilience. Methods: TGD individuals in Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, and Tennessee (n = 158; ages 19-70, mean = 33.06) completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of how TGD people were viewed in their local area and in the U.S., as well as scales assessing minority stressors, pride, resilience, and mental health. Data were collected during Fall 2019 to Spring 2020. Results: Oregon participants viewed perceptions in their state the most positively, with no state-level differences in terms of broader U.S. perceptions. Tennessee participants experienced more expectations of rejection; however, there were no differences across the states in other minority stress variables, identity pride, resilience, or mental health. Participants who viewed their area as having more negative views of TGD people reported higher levels of discrimination, expectations of negative events, internalized stigma, and anxiety, as well as less pride. The effects of perceptions of local context on mental health were partially explained by enacted stigma and internalized stigma. Resilience did not buffer the effects of perceptions of the local context on mental health or pride. Conclusion: Context is important to shaping exposure to minority stressors and mental health, potentially through increasing enacted and internalized stigma.
Keywords
gender minorities, mental health, minority stress, resilience, stigma, transgender
Recommended Citation
Jae A. Puckett, T. Zachary Huit, Debra A. Hope, Richard Mocarski, Brenna R. Lash, Tian Walker, Natalie Holt, Allura Ralston, Makinna Miles, A. Capannola, Clove Tipton, Robert Paul Juster, and L. Zachary DuBois. "Transgender and Gender-Diverse People's Experiences of Minority Stress, Mental Health, and Resilience in Relation to Perceptions of Sociopolitical Contexts" Transgender Health (2024): 14-23. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2022.0047
