Tackling bisexual erasure: An explorative comparison of bisexual, gay and straight cisgender men's body image.

Previous body image research often grouped both gay and bisexual men into a single category: sexual minoritised men, limiting our understanding of how sexual identity influences body image. However, there is strong reason to believe that bisexual and gay men experience distinct body image concerns. Here, we explored motivations to alter one's leanness and muscularity, as well as (dis)satisfaction with body fat, muscularity, height and penis size, and functionality appreciation across gay, bisexual, and straight cisgender men. We sampled 378 white participants aged 18 to 85 (nbisexual = 125, ngay = 128, nstraight = 125). We found that bisexual men were significantly less motivated to be lean and showed lower muscularity dissatisfaction relative to gay men but showed comparable levels to straight men. Our findings demonstrate that despite research perceiving the body image of bisexual and gay men as homogenous, they experience differences in their body image concerning leanness and muscularity dissatisfaction. Future body image research should incorporate this understanding by not artificially grouping bisexual and gay cisgender men and instead acknowledging the potential uniqueness in their experiences.

"[He] can be supportive, but at times I feel he is ashamed of me": Understanding the relationship between parental support and quality of life amongst trans and gender diverse youth in the UK.

Background: Trans and gender diverse (TGD) youth often report poor relations with their parents and perceive these to be core to the mental health difficulties they experience. One aspect of psychological wellbeing that has not been well explored in relation to parental support is Quality of Life (QoL). Aim: To test the association between perceived parental support and QoL and, understand from the young person's perspective how parental support contributes to QoL. Method: To address these aims a multi-methods design was used and 140 TGD youth aged 11-19 years old from the UK took part in an online survey in 2020. Validated measures of parental support and QoL were used in conjunction with open-ended survey questions about experiences of parental support. Findings: As expected, we found a significant and positive association between parental support and QoL. Two themes were found in the qualitative data: (1) Parental support is not black or white, (2) Knowledge is a catalyst for affirmative parental support. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the positive implications of affirmative family support on QoL but at the same time highlight how parental relations can be complex and frequently conditional. Organizations supporting young TGD people (e.g. those working in education, healthcare) should prepare young people for the complexity of family relationships. Knowledge and awareness were felt to be an important tool in increasing the likelihood of parental support, but affirmative and evidence-based support needs to be made more readily available.

Assessing Attitudes Toward Trans and Gender Diverse People: Adapting the 'Transgender Attitudes and Beliefs' Scale.

This study aimed to update the gender-based terminology of a measure used to assess attitudes toward trans and gender diverse people (the Transgender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale; TABS) in order to reflect appropriate and inclusive language standards and conventions while maintaining the psychometric integrity of the tool. The updated TABS was administered to 247 heterosexual, cisgender adults in the UK. Participants also completed the original TABS as well as measure of self-esteem and social desirability to test construct validity. We demonstrate that after updating the language of the TABS to reflect best-practice, the psychometric properties of the TABS were unaffected.

Exploring the mental health experiences of young trans and gender diverse people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Both anxiety and depression have been identified as negative health outcomes associated with the distressing nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially among young people. Within this age demographic, trans and gender diverse people may be particularly vulnerable to pandemic-related mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression, due to the social challenges, gender dissonance, and poor mental health they experience. Furthermore, the social distancing measures impose several unique social and help-seeking challenges which may further contribute to the worsening of mental health. While there has been acknowledgment that vulnerable populations may be disproportionally affected by the pandemic, the experiences of trans and gender diverse youth have received very little empirical attention. Aims: To explore the mental health impact of Covid-19 on the lives of young trans and gender diverse people in the UK. Method: In total, 243 people took part in an online survey between May and July in 2020. Eighty-two people were removed due to providing insufficient data. The analyzed dataset therefore comprised of 161 respondents ranging from 16 to 25 years (M = 20; SD = 2.68). Participants were asked how social distancing measures had impact on their social lives, mental health and access to health services. They were also asked to complete validated measures of anxiety and depression. Results: This study found that those who experienced a greater impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and its associated social distancing measures, reported poorer mental health. Lack of social support, negative interpersonal interactions, unsupportive and non-affirming living environments and the inability to access mental health support and gender-affirming interventions were all factors that were associated with poor mental health. Conclusion: The findings provide specific direction for the tailoring of mental health service delivery to this population, noting the need for private, safe spaces in which young people can feel supported and have their gender identity affirmed.

College student aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity: Disparities between cis-gender and transgender students in the United States.

Objective: To examine aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity disparities among college cis-gender and transgender students adjusting for other socio-demographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation). Methods: National Collegiate Health Assessment (NCHA) data collected between Fall 2015 and Fall 2018 were analyzed using chi-square tests for independence and odds ratios. Results: Cis-gender women were significantly less likely to meet aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity recommendations compared to cisgender men. Transgender men and transgender women were less likely to meet aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity recommendations compared to cisgender peers. Differences were also revealed among transgender individuals, with transgender women more and less likely to meet aerobic and muscle-strengthening recommendations respectively compared to transgender men. Conclusions: Considerable aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity participation disparities exist between cisgender and transgender emerging adults. The unique constraints that transgender college students experience in relation to both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity participation require further examination to ensure the provision of equitable opportunities to be physically active.

The mental health benefits of community helping during crisis: Coordinated helping, community identification and sense of unity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Communities are vital sources of support during crisis, providing collective contexts for shared identity and solidarity that predict supportive, prosocial responses. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconnection. Simultaneously, lockdown restrictions have forced vulnerable community members to depend upon the support of fellow residents. Fortunately, voluntary helping can be beneficial to the well-being of the helper as well as the recipient, offering beneficial collective solutions. Using insights from social identity approaches to volunteering and disaster responses, this study explored whether the opportunity to engage in helping fellow community members may be both unifying and beneficial for those engaging in coordinated community helping. Survey data collected in the UK during June 2020 showed that coordinated community helping predicted the psychological bonding of community members by building a sense of community identification and unity during the pandemic, which predicted increased well-being and reduced depression and anxiety. Implications for the promotion and support of voluntary helping initiatives in the context of longer-term responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are provided. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Whose story is it? Mental health consumer and carer views on carer participation in research.

BACKGROUND: Mental health carers contribute a unique set of perspectives and lived experiences to research; however, national research ethics guidelines do not specifically address the issues that affect informal carers as participants. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore Australian mental health consumer and carer views on the ethical conduct of research involving mental health carers. DESIGN: A public forum (n = 14; consumer = 5, carer = 9) and a subsequent series of interviews (n = 10; consumer = 5, carer = 4, both = 1) were conducted to investigate consumer and carer views on mental health research ethics. Data collection and analysis drew strongly on methodological features of grounded theory. RESULTS: Conducting research involving carers and consumer-carer relationships raises potential concerns related to story ownership. Lived experience stories have shared and separate elements; thus, it is important to consider potential risks to the privacy of non-participants and of social harm to participants' relationships when conducting research in this space. These risks could be minimized and managed through communication between researchers and participants, and within relationships. CONCLUSIONS: When conducting research involving carers and consumer-carer relationships, researchers may need to facilitate the negotiation of information-sharing boundaries within relationships and the safe and confidential telling of shared stories.

Australian Mental Health Consumer and Carer Perspectives on Ethics in Adult Mental Health Research.

Barriers to research arise when national ethical guidelines governing the inclusion of consumers in mental health research are implemented at the local level. Equivalent guidelines for research involving carers are not available. A social science investigation of Australian mental health consumer and carer perspectives on research ethics procedures was conducted in two interlinked stages: (a) a discussion forum with consumers, carers, and lived-experience researchers and (b) in-depth interviews with consumers and carers. Data collection and analysis drew strongly on methodological features of grounded theory. Privacy, confidentiality, and stigmatizing ethics procedures were key issues for consumer and carer participants. Recommendations for research practice include the following: considering the impact of information sharing on participants' relationships and adopting individual-focused approaches to managing research risks.

The Gender Congruence and Life Satisfaction Scale (GCLS): Development and validation of a scale to measure outcomes from transgender health services.

Background: It is vital that the treatment offered at transgender health services can be evaluated to ensure a high quality of care. However, the tools currently used to evaluate treatment at transgender health services are limited by mainly focusing on mental health or because they have been developed for binary transgender people only. This study therefore aimed to develop and validate a tool that addresses these limitations. The Gender Congruence and Life Satisfaction Scale (GCLS) was developed through reviewing the literature, conducting interviews with transgender people, and holding discussions with experts working in transgender healthcare. An initial pool of items was developed and feedback on these was obtained. The tool was then validated. Method: For the validation of the tool, a total of 789 participants (451 transgender [171 transgender females, 147 transgender males, 133 people identifying as non-binary], and 338 cisgender [254 females, 84 males]) were recruited from the United Kingdom to test the factor structure and validity of the GCLS. Results: Exploratory factor analysis retained 38 items which formed seven subscales (psychological functioning; genitalia; social gender role recognition; physical and emotional intimacy; chest; other secondary sex characteristics; and life satisfaction). These seven subscales were found to have good internal consistency and convergent validity. The GCLS was also found to be capable of discriminating between groups (e.g., people who have and have not undergone gender affirming medical interventions). Transgender and cisgender subscale norms are provided for the GCLS. Conclusion: The GCLS is a suitable tool to use with the transgender population to measure health-related outcomes for both clinical and research purposes.

Mental health and quality of life in non-binary transgender adults: a case control study.

Background: The social challenges that non-binary people experience, due in part to social intolerance and the lack of validation of non-binary gender identities, may affect the mental health and quality of life of this population. However, studies that have distinguished between non-binary and binary transgender identities are lacking. Aim: To compare the mental health and quality of life of a community sample of non-binary transgender adults with controls (binary transgender people and cisgender people) matched on sex assigned at birth. Method: A total of 526 participants were included. Ninety-seven were classified as non-binary and were compared with two control groups: 91 people classified as binary and 338 cisgender people. Only transgender people not on gender affirming hormone treatment or who had not undergone gender affirming surgery were included. Participants were invited to complete an online survey that included mental health and quality of life measures. Results: Non-binary people reported significantly better mental health than binary transgender people, but worse than cisgender people. Overall, there were no significant differences in quality of life between non-binary and binary transgender participants assigned male at birth and transgender females, but non-binary assigned males at birth had better scores on the psychological and social domains of quality of life than transgender males. Quality of life was better across all domains in cisgender people than transgender groups. Conclusion: There is an inequality with regard to mental health and quality of life between non-binary (and binary) transgender people and the cisgender population that needs to be addressed. The better mental health scores in non-binary people may reflect lower levels of body dissatisfaction among the non-binary population. Mental health problems and poor quality of life are likely to have social causes and hence legislative measures and broader government-led inclusive directives should be put in place to recognize and to validate non-binary identifying people.

Gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people: A case control study.

Background: Binary transgender people access gender affirming medical interventions to alleviate gender incongruence and increase body satisfaction. Despite the increase in nonbinary transgender people, this population are less likely to access transgender health services compared to binary transgender people. No research has yet understood why by exploring levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction in nonbinary transgender people to controls [binary transgender people and cisgender (nontrans) people]. Method: In total, 526 people from a community sample in the UK took part in the study (97 nonbinary, 91 binary, and 338 cisgender identifying people). Participants were asked to complete an online survey about gender congruence and body satisfaction. Results: There were differences in gender congruence and body satisfaction between nonbinary and binary transgender people. On sex-specific parts of the body (i.e., chest, genitalia, and secondary sex characteristics), nonbinary transgender people reported significantly higher levels of gender and body satisfaction compared to binary transgender people. However, there was no difference in congruence and satisfaction with social gender role between the two transgender groups (nonbinary and binary). Cisgender people reported significantly higher levels of gender congruence and body satisfaction compared to transgender people (nonbinary and binary). Conclusions: There are differences in gender congruence and body satisfaction between nonbinary and binary transgender people. Nonbinary individuals may be less likely to access transgender health services due to experiencing less gender incongruence and more body satisfaction compared to binary transgender people. Transgender health services need to be more inclusive of nonbinary transgender people and their support and treatment needs, which may differ from those who identify within the binary gender system.

Gender Dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing clinical recognition that a significant proportion of patients with gender dysphoria have concurrent autism spectrum disorder (ASD). AIM: The purpose of this review is to systematically appraise the current literature regarding the co-occurrence of gender dysphoria and ASD. METHODS: A systematic literature search using Medline and PubMed, PsycINFO, and Embase was conducted from 1966 to July 2015. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fifty-eight articles were generated from the search. Nineteen of these publications met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: The literature investigating ASD in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria showed a higher prevalence rate of ASD compared with the general population. There is a limited amount of research in adults. Only one study showed that adults attending services for gender dysphoria had increased ASD scores. Another study showed a larger proportion of adults with atypical gender identity and ASD. CONCLUSION: Although the research is limited, especially for adults, there is an increasing amount of evidence that suggests a co-occurrence between gender dysphoria and ASD. Further research is vital for educational and clinical purposes.

Self-objectification and depression: an integrative systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Objectification Theory positions self-objectification as a cause of depression. In particular, the authors offer Objectification Theory as a partial explanation for the higher prevalence of depression among women than men. To investigate the validity of this theory, we undertook a systematic review of quantitative studies that have investigated self-objectification as a predictor of depression. METHODS: Studies were identified by searching the PsycINFO, Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms were 'objectif⁎' OR 'body conscious⁎' AND 'depressi⁎' OR 'dysthymi⁎' OR 'mood disorder'. To be eligible, studies were required to be in the English-language, to include a measure of depression and a measure of self-objectification. Studies were excluded if they did not explicitly examine the association between these variables. RESULTS: Among women most studies found a mediated effect for self-objectification on depression. All studies including adolescents found a direct effect. Each of the two prospective longitudinal studies found that an increase in self-objectification over time was associated with a concomitant increase in depression, suggesting a causal relationship. Among men the results were mixed. LIMITATIONS: The review did not include a quantitative synthesis due to the heterogeneity of the included observational studies. The majority of the studies were cross-sectional precluding conclusions concerning causality. Generalisations to culturally and linguistically diverse populations must be made with caution given the limited cultural diversity within the studies CONCLUSIONS: Self-objectification may be a useful predictor of depression, particularly among women and adolescents, and may have clinical relevance among these populations.

Online cognitive behaviour training for the prevention of postnatal depression in at-risk mothers: a randomised controlled trial protocol.

BACKGROUND: Postnatal depression (PND) is the most common disorder of the puerperium with serious consequences for both mother and child if left untreated. While there are effective treatments, there are many barriers for new mothers needing to access them. Prevention strategies may offer a more acceptable means of addressing the problem. Internet interventions can help overcome some barriers to reducing the impact of PND. However, to date there are no published studies that investigate the efficacy of internet interventions for the prevention of PND. METHODS/DESIGN: The proposed study is a two-arm double blind randomised controlled trial. 175 participants will be recruited in the immediate postnatal period at an Australian community hospital. Women who meet inclusion criteria (internet access, email address, telephone number, over 18, live birth, fluent English) will complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Those with a score above 9 will undertake the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID). Those with a clinical diagnosis of depression, or a lifetime diagnosis of bipolar disorder or psychosis on the SCID will be excluded. Following completion of the baseline battery women will be randomised using a computer-generated algorithm to either the intervention or control condition. The intervention will consist of 5 modules of automated, interactive cognitive behaviour training (CB training), completed weekly with email reminders. The control will replicate the level of contact participants experience with the intervention, but the content will be of a general health nature. Participants will complete questionnaires immediately post-intervention (6 weeks) and 3-, 6- and 12 months follow-up. There will also be a second SCID delivered via telephone at 6 months. We hypothesise that relative to the control group, the intervention group will show a greater reduction in postnatal distress on the EPDS (primary outcome measure). We also hypothesise that the intervention group will demonstrate lower levels of anxiety and stress and higher levels of parenting confidence than the control group following intervention and/or follow-up. DISCUSSION: The proposed study addresses a number of limitations of earlier trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registers, ACTRN12609001032246.