Perceived social norms and acceptance of transgender students in gendered restrooms

Abstract

Transgender college students report higher rates of discrimination in gendered restrooms than do their cisgender peers. It is critical to understand factors that promote greater acceptance of transgender students using restrooms that align with their gender identity. The current experiment examined the impact of perceived social norms on both acceptance of transgender individuals using various locations and transphobia. Participants were 133 cisgender college students recruited on a college campus that had recently added all-gender restrooms to all campus buildings. Participants completed a prescreening measure of transphobia. During the experimental session, participants read results from a fictional study in which the social norm of their college campus was described as either in favor of (supportive norm) or against (unsupportive norm) the installation of all-gender restrooms on campus. Then participants completed measures of acceptance of transgender individuals in various spaces and transphobia. Supporting the primary hypothesis, relative to those in the unsupportive norm condition, participants in the supportive social norm condition were more accepting of transgender individuals using restrooms that aligned with their gender identity. However, the norm manipulation did not impact personal levels of transphobia between prescreen and post experimental manipulation. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Keywords:

• Gender identity
• social norms
• Transphobia
• gender-inclusive restrooms
• college campus inclusiveness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chelsea L. Monheim

Chelsea L. Monheim, M.A., is a graduate student at Kent State University. Her research has focused primarily on prejudice and discrimination in marginalized groups, specifically the LGBT + community. She plans to continue her research in prejudice and discrimination toward marginalized groups while working toward her PhD in Psychological Sciences with a focus in Social Health. Her current work is examining how COVID-19 stigma operates compared to other stigmatized identities.

Jennifer J. Ratcliff

Jennifer J. Ratcliff, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Her research centers on understanding the antecedents to prejudice, discrimination, and stigma, as well as the impact of such stigma on marginalized individuals. Much of her work has focused on sexual orientation-based prejudice and stigma in particular. Her recent work has focused on understanding risk and protective factors for marginalized individuals who have experienced bullying.