Poster #188 - Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals: Examining Religiosity, Political Ideation, and Proximity

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Within the LGBT community, there exists a paucity of research on the transgender population and transgender issues in general, and more specifically, research that examines attitudes toward this community and factors which may be responsible for the attitude formation (Walch, Ngamake, Francisco, Stitt, & Shingler, 2012). This lack of available data affects the ability for adequate theory generation, accurate research methods, and educational practice pertaining to LGBT issues, as well as promotion of understanding for this population (Renn, 2010).

This study investigated cisgender young adults’ attitudes toward transgender individuals and examined factors that may influence cisgender people’s attitudes toward the transgender population. Additionally, attitudinal formation factors (i.e., religiosity [operationalized as frequency of religious service attendance], political ideation, and proximity to a transgender person) were examined as potential predictors of attitudes toward transgender individuals.

Participants were 86 college students enrolled in an introductory Psychology course (aged 18-35; 17% male). Subjects were invited to complete the 20-item Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals Scale (ATTI), a 6-item Fetzer Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality Questionnaire, a 7-item Revised Relational Closeness Scale, and a demographic questionnaire, including political affiliation.

Correlational analyses revealed that as frequency of religious practices increased and as participants identified as more politically conservative, attitudes toward individuals who identify as transgender became more negative. Conversely, as proximity to someone identifying as transgender increased, attitudes expressed about transgender individuals were more positive.

Multiple regression analysis revealed that both political ideation and proximity were significant predictors of attitudes toward transgender individuals after accounting for the effects of each other and religiosity, with political affiliation serving as the most significant predictor of these attitudes (see Table 1).

This is the first evidence that political ideation and proximity to someone who identifies as transgender predict attitudes toward the transgender population. Unlike previous research, religiosity was found not to be significant in predicting attitudes toward individuals identifying as transgender.

Understanding biases and attitudes toward outgroups could decrease stigma regarding individuals who identify as transgender, a particularly vulnerable population for both mental and physical health risks due to increased likelihood of victimization. Better understanding could lead to more acceptance of youth who identify as transgender, ultimately improving outcomes for this population.

Authors

• Austin K Darling, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author

• Sarah J Conoyer, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
  Non-Presenting Author