Abstract
Research has found that the prevalence of psychological distress is substantially higher in transgender compared to cisgender populations. This study explored the role of metacognitions as mediators of anxiety in a sample comprising of cisgender and transgender individuals. One-hundred and twenty-five individuals (19 trans-male; 24 male; 25 trans-female; 57 female) completed a series of measures that assessed metacognitions, worry and anxiety. Correlation analyses were used to identify potential mediators of the relationship between gender identity and anxiety. A mediation model indicated that beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger entirely mediated the relationship between gender identity and anxiety (b = 2.00, bias corrected and accelerated confidence interval [0.68, 3.49]). Metacognitions play an important role in anxiety in transgender individuals. -Metacognitions were found to mediate anxiety in transgender and cisgender individuals. -The exploration of metacognitions in transgender individuals experiencing psychological distress may have clinical utility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Highlights
The term cisgender refers to individuals whose gender identity matches their biological sex, while transgender refers to a mismatch between these two factors
4.0 Discussion Our findings provide further evidence of the importance of metacognitions in distress, with all five Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 (MCQ-30) factors having a significant relationship with anxiety
In terms of our experimental hypothesis, we found that the total effect of worry, negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger, and cognitive confidence fully mediated the relationship between gender identity and anxiety
Summary
The term cisgender refers to individuals whose gender identity matches their biological sex, while transgender refers to a mismatch between these two factors. Research has found much higher prevalence rates of psychological distress in transgender samples than typically found in the cisgender population. Clements-Nolle, Marx, Guzman, and Katz (2001) found that 62% of male-to-female and 55% of female-to-male transgender individuals that they sampled could be classified as depressed. Budge, Adelson, and Howard (2013) found similar high prevalence of depression of approximately 50% in transgender individuals and between 40.4% and 47.5% for anxiety. The Minority Stress Model (MSM: Meyer, 1995, 2003) described three processes to help explain the high rates of psychological distress found in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations and has, more recently, been applied to transgender individuals (Hendricks & Testa, 2012). The model suggests that individuals are subjected to objective environmental stressors that directly result from their minority status (e.g., discrimination and transphobia), secondly the anticipation of these environmental stressors further contributes to distress through the adoption of (often maladaptive) coping strategies (such as avoidance and vigilance), and thirdly both experienced and expected stigma are internalized becoming, in the case of transgender individuals, an internalized transphobia (Hendricks & Testa, 2012)
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