Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Reactions to Microaggressions: Transgender Perspectives

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature focusing on microaggressions, or subtle forms of discrimination, toward people of color; women; people with disabilities; and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature that describes the types of microaggressions experienced by transgender people as well as the ways that transgender people cope with, or react to, microaggressions. The current qualitative study (N = 9) used a directed content analysis to examine transgender people's psychological processes and coping mechanisms when gender identity microaggressions occur in their lives. Participants' perspectives are categorized into 3 major domains: emotional reactions, behavioral reactions, and cognitive reactions. Psychological implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.