Development and Validation of the Transgender Prejudice Scale

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Development and Validation of the Transgender Prejudice Scale Western Washington University Western CEDAR WWU Graduate School Collection WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship 2014 Development and validation of the transgender prejudice scale Maxwell R. (Maxwell Roaldseth) Davidson Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwuet Part of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons Recommended Citation Davidson, Maxwell R. (Maxwell Roaldseth), "Development and validation of the transgender prejudice scale" (2014). WWU Graduate School Collection. 384. https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwuet/384 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in WWU Graduate School Collection by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Development and Validation of the Transgender Prejudice Scale By Maxwell Davidson Accepted in Partial Completion Of the Requirements for the Degree Masters of Science Kathleen L. Kitto, Dean of the Graduate School ADVISORY COMMITTEE Chair, Dr. Alex Czopp Dr. Barbara Lehman Dr. Kristi Lemm MASTER’S THESIS In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at Western Washington University, I grant to Western Washington University the non- exclusive royalty-free right to archive, reproduce, distribute, and display the thesis in any and all forms, including electronic format, via any digital library mechanisms maintained by WWU. I represent and warrant this is my original work, and does not infringe or violate any rights of others. I warrant that I have obtained written permissions from the owner of any third party copyrighted material included in these files. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of this work, including but not limited to the right to use all or part of this work in future works, such as articles or books. Library users are granted permission for individual, research and non-commercial reproduction of this work for educational purposes only. Any further digital posting of this document requires specific permission from the author. Any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, is not allowed without my written permission. Maxwell Davidson November 13, 2014 Development and Validation of the Transgender Prejudice Scale A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Western Washington University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Masters of Science by Maxwell Davidson November 2014 iv Abstract The Transgender Prejudice Scale (TPS) was developed and validated across four studies as a measure of transgender prejudice (transprejudice). The TPS is a 25-item scale with two subscales: sex essentialism and discomfort. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses support the two-factor structure, while tests of convergent, construct, and discriminant validity support the TPS as a valid measure of transprejudice. Importantly, the TPS predicts negative evaluations of transgender individuals, and support for transgender civil rights, beyond the ability of a current popular transprejudice scale. The TPS does this by measuring the extent to which individuals conceptualize gender as dichotomous, unchanging, and biologically based (sex essentialism), as well as the extent to which individuals feel comfortable sharing physical and social space with transgender individuals (discomfort). The TPS' strong focus on sex essentialism makes it unique among transprejudice scales, and gives insight into an underlying factor of transprejudice. v Acknowledgements This thesis was made possible by the help and efforts of many beyond myself. Special thanks are in order to my advisor, Dr. Alex Czopp, for guiding me through this experience. I thank Dr. Barbara Lehman for providing me with several useful ideas and tips early on in the design process. I would also like to thank Dr. Kristi Lemm for help on understanding several of the statistical processes I used throughout this project. I am also in debt to all my peers who listened for countless hours to me ramble on about every aspect of this project, but always appeared attentive and interested. vi Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................v List of Figures and Tables....................................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Study 1 .....................................................................................................................................18 Study 2 .....................................................................................................................................25 Study 3 .....................................................................................................................................31 Study 4 .....................................................................................................................................41 General Discussion ..................................................................................................................51 References ................................................................................................................................62 Footnotes ..................................................................................................................................69 Tables and Figures ...................................................................................................................70 Appendices ...............................................................................................................................90 vii Tables and Figures Table 1 .....................................................................................................................................70 Table 2 .....................................................................................................................................71 Table 3 .....................................................................................................................................72 Table 4 .....................................................................................................................................74 Table 5 .....................................................................................................................................75 Table 6 .....................................................................................................................................77 Table 7 .....................................................................................................................................78 Table 8 .....................................................................................................................................79 Table 9 .....................................................................................................................................80 Table 10 ...................................................................................................................................81 Table 11 ...................................................................................................................................82 Table 12 ...................................................................................................................................83 Table 13 ...................................................................................................................................84 Table 14 ...................................................................................................................................85 Table 15 ...................................................................................................................................86 Table 16 ...................................................................................................................................87 Figure 1 ....................................................................................................................................88 Figure 2 ....................................................................................................................................89 Development and Validation of the Transgender Prejudice Scale The seriousness of the problems associated with transgender prejudice cannot be understated. Not only are transgender individuals harassed at a high rate in school and at work, but transgender individuals report being denied equal treatment even at times when critical care is needed, such as at hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and when turning to public servants such as police and EMT crews (Grant et al., 2011). A proper measurement scale to evaluate levels of transgender prejudice can help evaluate the success of programs or interventions aimed at lessening the problems associated with transgender prejudice. However, few of the existing transgender prejudice scales correctly tap into transgender prejudice. Instead, current scales are narrow in scope, measuring only part
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