Gender minority stress and resilience scale validity and reliability study

Objective: We aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale that developed from the Minority Stress Model to understand transgender mental health disparities. And aimed to fill an important gap in this field and to create a tool that can be used in new researches in our country. Method: The study included 48 people who consulted to Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Mental Health and Diseases for gender transition process. Sociodemographic Data Form, Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale (GMSR), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was applied. For test-retest analysis, 15 volunteers were re-applied GMSR scale approximately two weeks later. Results: In the reliability study, the correlation analysis showed that the scale had a high level of internal consistency. Cronbach's alpha value is 0.768 for the whole scale, 0.843 for distal stress, 0.911 for proximal stress , and 0.896 for resilience. Wilcoxon values ​​calculated for test-retest reliability of the scale were found to be highly reliable. In the validity study of the GMSR scale, the factor analysis for the construct validity was examined on 3-factor structure. In the criterion validity study, significant correlations were found between the GMSR and the other scales' scores and similar the findings with original study. We found significant positive correlation between resilience factors and MSPSS scores, and significant negative correlation with BDI, BAI, PSI scores. Conclusion: This study shows that Turkish version of GMSR scale can be used as a valid and reliable measurement tool in Turkey's terms. As far as we know, our study is the first in the Turkish literature to examine the relationship between gender minorities, resilience and mental health outcomes among trans people. In our study, importance of internalized transphobia and protective effect of resilience factors for mental health outcomes of trans people that exposed to minority stress, were found to be remarkable. Keywords: transgender, minority stress, resilience, mental health, gmsr