Our study used the construct of congruence to conceptualize the degree to which transgender individuals feel genuine, authentic, and comfortable with their gender identity and external appearance. In Study 1, the Transgender Congruence scale (TCS) was developed, and data from 162 transgender individuals were used to estimate the reliability and validity of its scores. Two factors emerged: Appearance Congruence and Gender Identity Acceptance. TCS total and subscale scores were internally consistent. Supporting its construct validity, TCS scores were (a) positively related to life satisfaction and presence of life meaning; (b) negatively related to anxiety, depression, and body dissatisfaction; and (c) unrelated to social desirability and searching for life’s meaning. TCS scores also garnered incremental validity by predicting life satisfaction, presence of meaning in life, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms above and beyond the number of steps taken to transition. Study 2 confirmed the TCS’s factor structure with a sample of 342 transgender individuals. The final 12-item TCS is a psychometrically sound measure that can facilitate both empirical investigations and clinical applications connected to transgender identity. Additional online materials for this article are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ’s website athttp://pwq.sagepub.com/supplemental.
ÅlgarsM.SantillaP.SandnabbaN. K. (2010). Conflicted gender identity, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating in adult men and women. Sex Roles, 63, 118–125. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9758-6
2.
AshmoreR. D.DeauxK.McLaughlin-VolpeT. (2004). An organizing framework for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 80–114. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.80
3.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A. (1993). Beck Anxiety Inventory manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation Harcourt Brace.
4.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A.BrownG. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
5.
BeemynB. J. (2003). Serving the needs of transgender college students. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education, 1, 33–50.
6.
BemS. L. (1995). Dismantling gender polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up?Journal of Sex Research, 32, 329–334. doi:10.1080/00224499509551 806
7.
BentlerP. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238
8.
BlakeB. F.ValdiserriJ.NeuendorfK. A.NemethJ. (2006). Validity of the SDS-17 measure of social desirability in the American context. Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 1625–1636. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.12.007
9.
BrowneM. W.CudeckR. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In BollenK. A.LongJ. S. (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
10.
BurnhamK. P.AndersenD. R. (2002). Model selection and multimodal inference: A practical information-theoretic approach(2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
11.
ButlerJ. (1990). Gender trouble. New York, NY: Routledge.
12.
CarrollL.GilroyP. J.RyanJ. (2002). Counseling transgendered, transsexual, and gender-variant clients. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80, 131–138.
13.
CliffordC.OrfordJ. (2008). The experience of social power in the lives of trans people. In ClarkeV.PeelE. (Eds.), Out in psychology: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer perspectives (pp. 195–216). West Sussex, England: John Wiley.
14.
CohenJ. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155
15.
Cohen-KettenisP. T.Van GoozenS. H. M. (1997). Sex reassignment of adolescent transsexuals: A follow-up study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 263–271. doi:10.1097/00004583-199702000-00017
16.
CooperP. J.TaylorM. J.CooperZ.FairburnC. G. (1987). The development and validation of the Body Shape Questionnaire. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, 485–494. doi:10.1002/1098-108X(198707)6:4<485:: AID-EAT2260060405>3.0.CO;2-O
17.
CrowneD. P.MarloweD. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349–354. doi:10.1037/h0047358
18.
DennyD. (2004). Changing models of transsexualism. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, 8, 25–40. doi:10.1080/19359705.2004.9962365
19.
DiamondL. M.ButterworthM. (2008). Questioning gender and sexual identity: Dynamic links over time. Sex Roles, 59, 365–376. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9425-3
20.
DiamondL. M.PardoS. T.ButterworthM. R. (2011). Border crossings: Transgender experience and identity. In SchwartzS.LuyckxK.VignolesV. (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 249–267). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
21.
DienerE.EmmonsR. A.LarsonR. J.GriffinS. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
22.
DozierR. (2005). Beards, breasts, and bodies: Doing sex in a gendered world. Gender & Society, 19, 297–316. doi:10.1177/0891243204272153
23.
EkinsR.KingD. (2006). The transgender phenomenon. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
FabrigarL. R.WegenerD. T.MacCallumR. C.StrahanE. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272–299. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.272
25.
FactorR.RothblumE. (2008). Exploring gender identity and community among three groups of transgender individuals in the United States: MTFs, FTMs, and genderqueers. Health Sociology Review, 17, 235–253.
26.
FassingerR. E.ArseneauJ. R. (2008). Diverse women’s sexualities. In DenmarkF. L.PaludiM. (Eds.), Psychology of women: A handbook of issues and theories (2nd ed., pp. 484–508). Westport, CT: Praeger.
27.
FriedmanC.LeaperC. (2010). Sexual-minority college women’s experiences with discrimination: Relations with identity and collective action. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 152–164. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01558.x
28.
GagneP.TewksburyR. (1998). Conformity pressures and gender resistance among transgendered individuals. Social Problems, 45, 81–101. doi:10.1525/sp.1998.45.1.03x0158b
29.
HaytonJ. C.AllenD. G.ScarpelloV. (2004). Factor retention decisions in exploratory factor analysis: A tutorial on parallel analysis. Organizational Research Methods, 7, 191–205. doi:10.1177/1094428104263675
30.
HornJ. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179–185. doi:10.1007/BF02289447
31.
HuL.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
32.
KassR. E.RafteryA. E. (1995). Bayes factors. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 90, 773–795. doi:10.2307/2291091
33.
KelleherC. (2009). Minority stress and health: Implications for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 22, 373–379.
34.
KenyonG. M. (2000). Philosophical foundations of existential meaning. In RekerG. T.ChamberlainK. (Eds.), Exploring existential meaning: Optimizing human development across the life span (pp. 7–22). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
KlineR. B. (2005). Principles and practices of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
37.
KoyamaE. (2003). The transfeminist manifesto. In DickerR.PiepmeierA. (Eds.), Catching a wave: Reclaiming feminism for the twenty-first century (pp. 244–261). Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
38.
LarsonR. J.DienerE.EmmonsR. A. (1985). An evaluation of subjective well-being measures. Social Indicators Research, 17, 1–17. doi:10.1007/BF00354108
39.
LasserJ.TharingerD. (2003). Visibility management in school and beyond: A qualitative study of gay, lesbian, bisexual youth. Journal of Adolescence, 26, 233–244. doi:10.1016/S0140-1971(02)00132-X
40.
LehavotK.KingK. M.SimoniJ. M. (2011). Development and validation of a gender expression measure among sexual minority women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 381–400. doi:10.1177/0361684311413554
41.
McCallL. (2005). The complexity of instersectionality. Signs, 30, 1771–1800.
42.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (2006). Mplus user’s guide (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
43.
NandaS. (1999). Gender diversity: Crosscultural variations. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
44.
PavotW.DienerE. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164–172. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.164
45.
PetersonC.ParkN.SeligmanM. E. P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 25–41. doi:10.1007/s10902-004-1278-z
46.
RehmanJ.LazerS.BenetA. E.SchaeferL. C.MelmanA. (1999). The reported sex and surgery satisfactions of 28 postoperative male-to-female transsexual patients. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28, 71–89. doi:10.1023/A:1018745706354
47.
RiggleE. D. B.RostoskyS. S.McCantsL. E.Pascale-HagueD. (2011). The positive aspects of transgender self-identification. Psychology & Sexuality, 2, 147–158.
48.
RogersC. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In KochS. (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 3, pp. 184–256). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
49.
RogersC. R. (1980). A way of being. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
50.
RosenJ. C.JonesA.RamirezE.WaxmanS. (1996). Body Shape Questionnaire: Studies of validity and reliability. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20, 315–319. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-108X(199611)20:3<315::AID-EAT11>3.3.CO;2-Z
51.
RyanR. M.LaGuardiaJ. G.RawsthorneL. J. (2005). Self-complexity and the authenticity of self-aspects: Effects on well being and resilience to stressful events. North American Journal of Psychology, 7, 431–448.
52.
SchiltK.WestbrookL. (2009). Doing gender, doing heteronormativity: “Gender normals,” transgender people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality. Gender & Society, 23, 440–464. doi:10.1177/0891243209340034
ShieldsS. A. (2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59, 301–311. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9501-8
55.
SmithY. L. S.Van GoozenS. H. M.KuiperA. J.Cohen-KettenisP. T. (2005). Sex reassignment: Outcomes and predictors of treatment for adolescent and adult transsexuals. Psychological Medicine, 35, 89–99. doi:10.1017/S0033291704002776
56.
SpenceJ. T.BucknerC. E. (2000). Instrumental and expressive traits, trait stereotypes, and sexist attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 44–62. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2000.tb01021.x
57.
StegerM. F.FrazierP.OishiS.KalerM. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80–93. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80
58.
StoberJ. (1999). The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS17): Development and first results on reliability and validity. Diagnostica, 45, 173–177. doi:10.1026//0012-1924.45.4.173
59.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
