Predictors of Resilience, Happiness, and Life Satisfaction among Transgenders

Pages: 164-172
Sundharraj Gokilapriya and Narayanan Annalakshmi (Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

Transgenders face multiple challenges and are at high risk for psychosocial adaptation. This underlines the importance of resilience research in this population. Positive psychology provides a useful framework for investigating the role of an individual’s basic human qualities in coping with difficult life events or situations. The present study focuses on examining the factors contributing to resilience, happiness, and life satisfaction among transgenders. The participants were recruited from different regions of a mid-sized city in South India. A convenient sample of 330 transwomen in the age group 18 to 55 years was selected. The participants completed self-report measures of virtues of character strength, perceived social support, community belongingness, resilience, happiness, and life satisfaction. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out to find the best predictors of resilience, happiness, and life satisfaction. Wisdom and knowledge, justice, courage, humanity, and transcendence positively predicted resilience. Wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, transcendence, friends support, and community belongingness also positively predicted happiness. Wisdom and knowledge, justice, humanity, transcendence, friends support, and significant others support positively predicted life satisfaction. Further, courage and community belongingness negatively predicted life satisfaction. It is intriguing to note that temperance did not significantly predict resilience, happiness, and life satisfaction. The findings highlight the importance of character strength virtues, social support, and community belongingness that can serve as individual personal resources to thrive in adverse conditions. Future research should focus on developing interventions for transgenders at individual, group, and community levels.