(89) GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF THE ITALIAN BI+ POPULATION: AN EXPLORATORY EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Abstract

Objectives: (1) to explore possible differences between Bi+ cisgender and transgender people in terms of identity affirmation, social support, and psychological well-being; (2) to test the mediating role of identity affirmation in the relationship between perceived social support and psychological well-being. Methods: 497 Italian Bi+ individuals (362 cisgender and 135 transgender), aged 14 to 61, participated in an online survey. Gender differences in main variables were tested with the T-test for independent samples, while the mediation model was tested with the SPSS PROCESS macro with bias-corrected bootstrapping and 95% confidence intervals. This analysis was controlled for gender (cisgender vs transgender). Results: (1) Bi+ transgender participants showed lower levels of perceived social support, environmental mastery, positive relations, purpose in life, self-acceptance and global psychological well-being than Bi+ cisgender counterparts, while Bi+ transgender participants showed higher levels of identity affirmation than Bi+ cisgender counterparts. (2) Perceived social support was positively associated with both identity affirmation and psychological well-being and identity affirmation was positively associated with psychological wellbeing. As identity affirmation was included as a mediator, there was a significant overall effect, while the direct effect remained significant, indicating a case of partial mediation. Indeed, the indirect effects showed that identity affirmation significantly mediated the relationship between perceived social support and psychological wellbeing. Gender was a significant control variable, indicating that being Bi+ cisgender was most strongly associated with psychological well-being than being Bi+ transgender. Conclusions: The few studies on the Bi+ community show how it suffers from peculiar risk factors in addition to those common to the entire LGBT+ population. Our innovative research shed a light on gender differences showing a general lower level of psychological well-being of Bi+ transgender people despite a higher level of identity affirmation, maybe consequent to the visibility that this community must actively seek to be recognized.