Perceived discrimination, social support, and psychological distress in transgender individuals.

Abstract

The present study aimed to find the relationship among perceived discrimination, social support, and psychological distress in transgender individuals (TIs) and the predictors of psychological distress in TIs. A correlational research design was used in the present study. It was hypothesized that there would likely to be a positive relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress and that there would likely be a negative relationship between social support and psychological distress. It was also hypothesized that perceived discrimination would predict psychological distress. Permission for using the questionnaires was taken from the authors of the original tools and the authors of the Urdu translated versions of the tools. The sample of 111 participants with an age range of 20-65 years was recruited by using purposive and non-probability snowball sampling techniques. The Everyday Perceived Discrimination Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale were used to determine perceived discrimination, social support, and psychological distress, respectively, in TIs. Results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress, a significant negative relationship between social support and psychological distress, and there was also a significant negative relationship between perceived discrimination and social support. Additional findings revealed that perceived discrimination was found more in younger TIs than older TIs while social support from significant others was greater for younger TIs than for their older counterparts.