Some say a problem shared is a problem halved; others, less optimistic, opine that misery loves company. In both cases, stress experienced by one partner in a relationship has an effect on the other partner as well as on the relationship.
Research has shown associations between discrimination, internalized stigma, and depression among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals; research has also shown that these sexual and gender minority individuals experience challenges to their relationship quality and functioning as a result of their individual minority status as well as additional stressors stemming from family or societal disapproval about their relationships. There is a dearth of research, however, about the same individual- and relationship-level associations among transgender people.
In the August 2014 issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, Gamarel, Reisner, Laurenceau, Nemoto, and Operario (PDF, 79KB)opens in new window contribute to the transgender literature with their study of how experiences of transgender-related discrimination and relationship stigma are associated with the relationship quality and mental health of transgender women and their cisgender male partners.
They recruited 191 couples (each composed of a transgender woman and a cisgender man) to participate in a cross-sectional survey. They then conducted dyadic analyses using actor–partner interdependence models to examine how stressors experienced by minorities influence clinically significant depressive distress and relationship quality.
Gamarel et al found that financial hardship, discrimination, and relationship stigma increased the likelihood of experiencing depressive distress in both transgender women and their cisgender male partners. Also, financial hardship was associated with lower relationship quality for both partners. When relationship stigma scores were high for both partners, transgender women were more likely to report lower relationship quality, but cisgender men tended to report lower relationship quality only when their partners' relationship stigma scores were high.
The results of this study lend support to the idea that mental health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations may be understood in the context of intimate relationships and stigmatizing social conditions that influence partnerships. Therefore, couple-based interventions and treatment approaches may be effective means of helping transgender women and their cisgender male partners cope with the stressors they experience as sexual and/or gender minorities, thereby improving the health and well-being of both partners.
Citation:
Gamarel, K. E., Reisner, S. L., Laurenceau, J.-P., Nemoto, T., & Operario, D. (2014). Gender minority stress, mental health, and relationship quality: A dyadic investigation of transgender women and their cisgender male partners. Journal of Family Psychology. August 2014. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037171
Note: This article is in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area.