Predictors of Attitudes toward Transgender Men and Women

Discrimination and negative attitudes toward transgender individuals lead to much higher suicide rates among this population (41% vs. national average of 2%; Haas, Rodgers, \u26 Herman, 2014), and fears for their safety (Perry \u26 Dyck, 2014). In this study, we investigated whether inducing empathy would improve attitudes toward transgender men vs. women. 242 participants read one of four vignettes (i.e., a definition of “transgender,” a personal story of a transgender female or male, or a control story), rated their empathy and attitudes toward transgender individuals, and completed demographic and personality measures. The vignettes did not increase empathy, but participants who were more religious or conservative reported more negative views of transgender people, regardless of the transgender person’s gender. Participants higher in general levels of empathy reported more positive attitudes. A focus on biological underpinnings of trangenderism (i.e., that it is not a “choice”) may improve attitudes more than empathy alone