Social Support and Well-being in Transgender Individuals: Mattering and Internalized Transphobia as Mediators

Background: Transgender individuals may experience lower levels of well-being than the general population. As for the Italian context, little is still known about the factors that contribute to or threaten the well-being of transgender people. This study aimed to examine the association between perceived social support and well-being, through the mediation of interpersonal mattering and internalized transphobia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 233 Italian transgender participants (Mage = 24.27 years ± 6.48; 59.1 % men, 8.2 % women, 30.6 % non-binary, and 2.2 % other). They responded to an online questionnaire, which assessed perceived social support, mattering to family and to friends, interiorized transphobia, and social and psychological well-being. We conducted two path analysis for testing two models, respectively with psychological and social well-being as the criterion variables. Perceived social support was included as the predictor while mattering to family and to friends and transphobia were considered as mediators.
Findings: Results supported the models for the two forms of well-being (psychological R2 = .45; social R2 = .22). In both of them the three indirect effects resulted to be significant and able of mediating completely the total effect of perceived social support on social and psychological well-being.
Discussion: This study offers practical implications in health psychology. It emphases the importance of fostering social support and interpersonal mattering while addressing internalized transphobia in order to increase transgender individuals’ wellbeing. It highlights the need for inclusive interventions tailored to the unique challenges of this community.