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Symposia

Oppression and Resilience Minority Health

Emotion Regulation in the Face of Minority Stress: Mental Health Implications for Diverse Populations

3 - (SYM 83) Risk-resilience Tradeoffs in Discrimination-induced Use of Adaptive Emotion Regulation over Time Among Transgender Adults

Saturday, November 16, 2024
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Location: Franklin 1, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
Abstract Body
Transgender (“trans”) individuals routinely encounter discrimination in daily life, underscoring the importance of understanding the long-term impact such experiences have on coping processes that foster resilience in this community. This daily diary study explored how daily discrimination impacts use of adaptive emotion regulation (AER) over time among trans adults (N = 64; Mage = 30.9 years old; 52.5% White; 40.6% nonbinary). Once per day for 14 days, participants indicated whether they used up to five different AER strategies in response to reporting discrimination. Linear and quadratic multilevel growth models examined the trajectory of change in the total number of AER strategies used in response to discrimination over time following the first instance of discrimination reported; subsequent models tested between-person differences (i.e., age, race, baseline gender minority stress exposure) and within-person factors (i.e., discrimination reoccurrence) as potential moderators. Results revealed an initial decrease in AER strategy use after the first discrimination report (B = -0.16, p < .01), the rate of which slowed down over time (B = 0.01, p < .01), suggesting eventual recovery. Trans adults who were older (vs. younger), White (vs. racial-minoritized), and reported greater baseline gender minority stress exposure used relatively more AER strategies on any given discrimination day (Bs = -0.51 - 0.26, ps < 0.04). The initial decline in AER use observed after the first discrimination report was steeper for older (vs. younger; B = 0.01, p < .01) and racial-minoritized (vs. White; B = 0.19, p = 0.08) individuals. Discrimination reoccurrence slowed the recovery of adaptive ER use over time following the first discrimination report (B = -0.05, p = 0.01). Results suggest that repeated discrimination exposure may erode resilience over time among trans adults, particularly those subject to both gender- and race-based stress. They also reveal complex risk-resilience tradeoffs among trans adults over time; while having more experience navigating discrimination throughout life (i.e., whether due to age or overall exposure levels) may initially boost a trans person’s resilience to the acute impact of discrimination, it may also amplify vulnerability to the cumulative effects of ongoing discrimination by eroding the capacity to sustain resilient coping responses over time. Results underscore the need for tailored interventions to reduce the long-term toll of chronic discrimination on trans adults’ implementation of AER over time.