Emotion and problem focused coping by transgender adolescents and young adults with family social support and exclusion: A case study in Southern Thailand

Abstract

Studies of the options available to transgender persons of coping with the social support and exclusion of their families show that those options have emotion- and problem- focused features which would favorably affect the outcomes of coping. This mixed-method study investigated the merits and proposed ways whereby a small cohort of transgender adolescents and young adults in the Provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, Southern Thailand might choose from, and apply, those options in their own lives. The investigation was conducted with the aid of open-ended, semi-structured interview schedules in interviews. Focus was put on how the theoretical bases of the emotion- and problem-based approaches could be translated into practical actions by the interviewees. Content analysis identified the themes, sub-themes, and correlations that emerged from the data. The research concluded that support and exclusion of transgender persons by their families triggered different reactive ways of coping, that they had both emotion- and problem-focused preferences in doing so, and that the study had highlighted the likely adaptation difficulties and challenges faced by transgender persons in general. The study recommended ways whereby acceptance of and social support for the transgender adolescents and young adults concerned might be advanced.