Measure of Internalized Transphobia (MIT): Preliminary Findings.

The term transphobia, or less commonly transprejudice, is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people. As a result of growing up in a sexist world, many transgender people have internalized this negative appraisal, that here we refer to as internalized transphobia, analogous of internalized homophobia. Internalized transphobia can manifest itself in different ways: it can hinder the different stages of the transgender coming-out process, and it is a source of intense shame and self-hatred. The goal of this study is to validate the Italian version of the Measure of Internalized Transphobia for transsexual people (MIT), an instrument that assesses four dimensions: body discomfort, identity, social discomfort, and sexuality. The MIT was administered to a convenience sample of 21 Italian Transsexual people (Male to Female = 11; Female to Male = 10). Reliability and convergent validity with depression and disclosure of gender identity (family and friends) were evaluated. The MIT scale demonstrates a good convergent validity: Transsexual participants with high internalized sexual stigma describe lower levels of self-disclosure to family and friends (0.30 < r < 0.50) and higher levels of depression. The internal consistency was relatively high for the total score. The MIT can be used as a clinical tool for helping mental health professionals to evaluate the degree of internalized sexual stigma and to implement appropriate interventions with their clients. Further validation of the MIT is warranted based on these promising preliminary findings. Larger samples would be useful for replication. Test–retest reliability should be assessed to determine the stability of these attitudes over time. Data examining whether negative attitudes and stigma predict psychological well-being would be very valuable.