Research Article
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Published Online: 31 January 2024

Transgender and Gender-Diverse People's Experiences of Minority Stress, Mental Health, and Resilience in Relation to Perceptions of Sociopolitical Contexts

Publication: Transgender Health
Volume 9, Issue Number 1

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.

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Cite this article as: Puckett JA, Huit TZ, Hope DA, Mocarski R, Lash BR, Walker T, Holt N, Ralston A, Miles M, Capannola A, Tipton C, Juster R-P, DuBois LZ (2024) Transgender and gender-diverse people's experiences of minority stress, mental health, and resilience in relation to perceptions of sociopolitical contexts, Transgender Health 9:1, 14–23, DOI: 10.1089/trgh.2022.0047.

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cover image Transgender Health
Transgender Health
Volume 9Issue Number 1February 2024
Pages: 14 - 23
PubMed: 38312451

History

Published in print: February 2024
Published online: 31 January 2024
Published ahead of print: 5 October 2022

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Jae A. Puckett* [email protected]
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
T. Zachary Huit
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Debra A. Hope
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Office of Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Richard Mocarski
Office of Research, San José State University, San José, California, USA.
Brenna R. Lash
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Tian Walker
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Natalie Holt
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Allura Ralston
Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Makinna Miles
College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
A. Capannola
Department of Child and Family Studies, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Clove Tipton
Department of Sociology, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Robert-Paul Juster
Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Notes

*
Address correspondence to: Jae A. Puckett, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 316 Physics Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA, [email protected]

Authors' Contributions

J.A.P: conceptualization (colead), data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. T.Z.H.: investigation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. D.A.H.: data curation, methodology, investigation, project administration, resources, supervision, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. R.M.: methodology, project administration, supervision, and writing—review and editing. B.R.L.: investigation and writing—review and editing. T.W.: investigation and writing—review and editing. N.H.: investigation and writing—review and editing. A.R.: investigation and writing—review and editing. M.M.: investigation and writing—review and editing. A.C.: investigation and writing—review and editing. C.T.: investigation and writing—review and editing. R.-P.J.: methodology and writing—review and editing. L.Z.D.: conceptualization (colead), data curation, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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No funding was received for this article.

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