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Attitudes Toward and Beliefs about Transgender Youth: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between the United States and India

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Abstract

Using an internet-based survey, we examined attitudes toward transgender youth in the United States and India, two cultures with differences in conceptualizations of gender and treatment of transgender individuals in society, law, and religion. We found generally positive attitudes toward transgender youth in our U.S. (n = 218), but moderately negative ones in our Indian (n = 217), sample. Consistent with the literature on prejudice against transgender adults in many Western societies, general social conservatism in the form of religious beliefs and political ideology, gender-specific conservatism in the form of gender binary belief, and endorsement of environmental rather than biological causes of transgender identity were the best predictors of U.S. participants’ attitudes, although personal contact with gender and sexual minorities also played a role at the bivariate level. These findings suggest that the processes underlying prejudice against transgender youth are similar to those that foster adult-directed transphobia in that cultural context. In contrast, religion-based disapproval and environmental causal attributions were the best predictors of Indian respondents’ attitudes, whereas gender binary belief played only a minor role, and political conservatism and personal contact no role at all. Our regression analyses accounted for considerably more of the variability in U.S. than in Indian participants’ attitudes, highlighting the need for additional (qualitative) work to identify the factors that promote transprejudice in India. We discuss these findings in light of cross-cultural differences between the two countries in terms of our predictors and consider implications for efforts to reduce prejudice against transgender youth.

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Acknowledgements

The present research was supported by an Albion College’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity (FURSCA) grant to Jessica Glazier. Jessica Glazier is now in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Science, Albion College, 609 E. Porter St., 313 Olin Hall, Albion, MI, 49224, USA

    Holger B. Elischberger, Jessica J. Glazier & Eric D. Hill

  2. Department of Anthropology & Sociology, Albion College, 609 E. Porter St., 313 Olin Hall, Albion, MI, 49224, USA

    Lynn Verduzco-Baker

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  1. Holger B. Elischberger
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  2. Jessica J. Glazier
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  3. Eric D. Hill
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  4. Lynn Verduzco-Baker
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Correspondence to Holger B. Elischberger.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

The research reported in this manuscript was approved by Albion College’s Institutional Review Board.

Participants gave voluntary informed consent to participate and were debriefed at the conclusion of the study.

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Elischberger, H.B., Glazier, J.J., Hill, E.D. et al. Attitudes Toward and Beliefs about Transgender Youth: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between the United States and India. Sex Roles 78, 142–160 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0778-3

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