Enacted stigma experiences and protective factors are strongly associated with mental health outcomes of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Introduction

International evidence has found large mental health inequities among transgender people and demonstrates that mental health outcomes are associated with enacted stigma experiences and protective factors. This study aimed to examine the extent of associations of enacted stigma experiences specific to transgender people alongside protective factors with mental health of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Methods

The 2018 Counting Ourselves survey was a nationwide community-based study of transgender people (N = 1178, Mage = 29.5) living in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The survey assessed a wide range of gender minority stress experiences and protective factors that comprised primary (support from friends and family) and secondary social ties (neighborhood and transgender community belongingness). We calculated the predicted probabilities that transgender people exhibit very high psychological distress level, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal risks with different combinations and exposure profiles of enacted stigma and protective factors.

Results

Our findings demonstrated that enacted stigma was associated with negative mental health, and support of friends and family was linked to better outcomes across all mental health measures. Beyond primary social ties, sense of belongingness to neighborhood and transgender communities were linked to reduced odds of psychological distress and suicidal ideation. For those scoring high on enacted stigma and low on protective factors, our model revealed a 25% probability of attempting suicide in the last year compared to 3% for those scoring low on enacted stigma and high on protective factors.

Conclusions

Echoing previous findings, this study demonstrates that transgender people across Aotearoa/New Zealand are less likely to manifest life-threatening mental health outcomes if they experience low levels of enacted stigma and high levels of access to protective factors. Our findings suggest a need to address the enacted stigma that transgender people face across interpersonal and structural settings, and also to enhance social supports that are gender affirmative for this population.

Keywords:

• Transgender
• minority stress
• enacted stigma
• protective factors
• mental health

Acknowledgment

The first author would like to acknowledge the financial support received through a University of Waikato Doctoral Scholarship. The authors would like to acknowledge the work of Counting Ourselves research team, and give special thanks to the community advisory group members and to the survey participants.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no other conflict of interest to declare.

Notes

1 Note that these demographic details may differ slightly from the published findings from the same survey dataset (Veale et al., 2019) which were weighted by ethnic groups to match the Aotearoa/New Zealand general population.

2 The Māori term “whānau” translates as family members, including those from an extended kinship system (Durie, 1985).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand [J.F.V., 17/587], the Rule Foundation; and the University of Waikato.