Trans Joy: A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology

There is a variety of research showing that transgender people report less well-being than their cisgender peers, higher stress and increased likelihood of suicide attempts. There are models to explain this minority stress; however, they focus on sexual minorities and lack information about gender minorities. Positive psychology is a field that focuses on increasing well-being and changing small parts of daily life to increase well-being. One method is gratitude interventions; weekly reflection on what you are thankful for. Also, social support is a potential moderator of the relationship between positive psychology exercises and well-being. There is very little research on minority populations in positive psychology. This study seeks to remedy the gap in the literature by investigating the impact of gratitude interventions with transgender adults. The proposed procedure is that transgender adults will participate in either a gratitude intervention or a journaling control condition for a period of 8 weeks. Their well-being would be measured before and after the intervention, in addition to a measurement of social support prior to the intervention period. The expected results are that participation in gratitude interventions will lead to greater well-being. It is also expected that social support will moderate the relationship between gratitude interventions and well-being. These results would be in line with previous findings. This is important research to consider in order to benefit the mental health of transgender individuals and contribute to the further representation of minorities in positive psychology. A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology 3 Trans Joy: A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology In July of 2022 CNN reviewed this year’s record-breaking number of laws restricting the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) people in America (Krishnakumar, 2022). They reviewed data from the ACLU showing that transgender (trans) and nonbinary youth have been particularly affected. More than two dozen bills across 21 states have been introduced which aim to restrict gender affirming care for transgender youth (Krishnakumar, 2022). There are also movements to exclude trans youth from same gender sports and to exclude LGBTQ+ topics from the classroom; democrats and transgender activists are fighting against these laws. Being singled out by legislation can be a very alienating experience and may have negative impacts on trans mental health which exacerbates pre-existing conditions. Research on transgender youth shows that they have high rates of mental health issues and suicide attempts (The Trevor Project, 2021). However, this research also shows that youth whose pronouns are respected and who are able to legally change their name are less likely to commit suicide. There is very little research on the well-being of transgender people in America and across the world. How can the lives of trans people improve while the focus remains only on the negative? The following research attempts to explore more about the positive ways to increase transgender well-being using methods of positive psychology. The proposed study aims to expand on existing literature in order to include a transgender perspective on positive psychology, specifically gratitude interventions. The questions of interest in this study are as follows. Are gratitude interventions effective for transgender individuals? How does social support impact the effectiveness of gratitude interventions for transgender individuals? A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology 4 Transgender Mental Health There is a variety of research that shows how transgender people are impacted by mental health issues. One survey of transgender people from Australia and New Zealand exposed how transgender people experienced lower rates of general health and higher rates of depression compared to the general population (Pitts et al., 2009). In this same study, respondents who experienced greater discrimination displayed higher levels of depression. Research on transgender adults from Oregon who were enrolled in Medicaid showed that the ability to change their gender in medical records was associated with a lower probability of experiencing mental health conditions (Yee et al., 2022). Also, a survey of transgender women in Arizona and California showed that social stigmas and fear surrounding how trans identity will affect one's life also have a negative impact on mental health (Sánchez & Vilain, 2009). In addition, Bouman et al. (2016) compared survey data from transgender participants with age and gender matched cisgender participants in the UK and found that levels of psychopathology, body dissatisfaction, and interpersonal problems were greater for trans than for cisgender participants; additionally, trans participants had lower levels of self-esteem. They pointed to self-esteem and interpersonal problems as primary predictors of well-being amongst transgender adults in treatment. There is an assortment of factors that lead to lower well-being amongst the transgender population as compared to their cisgender peers. In contrast, having a supportive family or social environment could be beneficial to the mental health of trans people (Johnson et al., 2020, Pardue-Bourgeois et al., 2022 and Roberts & Christens, 2021). Johnson et al. (2020) performed qualitative research with trans adolescents from New York and San Francisco exploring specific parental behaviors that impact transgender well-being. They discussed several parental supportive behaviors including use of proper A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology 5 pronouns and names, self-educating about trans issues, advocating for fair treatment of their children, and assisting their children with medical transition. Adolescents who experienced these supportive parental factors felt they had a positive influence on their well-being and made it easier to manage depressive symptoms (Johnson et al., 2020). The benefits of familial support extend beyond adolescence as well. Roberts & Christens (2021) conducted a highly diverse study of adult LGBT individuals in the United States and Puerto Rico. They found that family support had a direct positive effect on well-being across all racial and ethnic groups. In addition, Pardue-Bourgeois et al. (2022) studied various social support systems and how they impacted suicidal ideation amongst transgender individuals. They found that trans people with supportive families were less likely to report suicidal ideation in the last year. An online survey of transgender adults from all across the United States also found an inverse relationship between both social and medical gender affirmation with symptoms of depression and anxiety (Hughto et al., 2020). Another impact on well-being and stress is social interaction like collective action and sociopolitical involvement (Breslow, 2015; Roberts & Christens, 2021). Transgender mental health generally benefits from having a supportive social environment, from supportive family to inclusive friends. As the following section will explain, interpersonal support might also be a factor that impacts the successfulness of positive psychology interventions. Considering this, investigating the benefits of social support is one of the goals of the present research. Positive Psychology The field of psychology is often focused on pathology and fixing the problems caused by mental illness. When positive psychology emerged at the turn of the century it expanded the field A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology 6 to address new areas with focus on subjective well-being and increased thriving (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Since then, there has been a great deal of development in a variety of positive psychology research areas. Particularly interesting to the current study is the development of positive psychology interventions. Since the beginning of positive psychology, research has been done to understand what makes people happy and how to increase people’s happiness through interventions. Research by Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues has shown that intentional engagement with day-to-day positive psychology activities is more effective than attempting to increase someone's set point of happiness or their general life circumstances. The set point of happiness is the general range of how happy someone is and is determined by genetics, which by definition cannot be changed. General life circumstances are also relatively stable and therefore difficult to influence. This leaves intentional interventions and adjustments to daily life as the most effective way to impact well-being (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). Gratitude is one such intervention that has been found to have the ability to increase well-being (Armenta et al., 2017, Seligman et al., 2005, and Watkins et al., 2015). Gratitude is a state in which one acknowledges that they have experienced a positive outcome from an external source (Emmons & McCullough, 2003 as cited in Armenta et al., 2017). One example of a gratitude intervention is writing and delivering letters to someone you’re grateful for (Seligman et al., 2005). Watkins et al. (2015) used a method where participants were asked to list 3 good things that happened in the past two days and why they were grateful for them. Research has also shown that the effects of gratitude interventions can last longer than the intervention itself (Seligman et al., 2005; Watkins et al., 2015). A Transgender Perspective on Positive Psychology 7 Lyubomirsky and Layous (2013) propose a model to explain how positive activities might work to increase well-being. They showed how features of the positive activities and features of the person engaged in the interventions influence the effectiveness of these activities at increasing well-being. One feature of activities that they specified was the timing and dosag