Sexual well-being in transgender individuals: a 21-day diary study

Sexual well-being in transgender individuals is typically investigated using questionnaires filled in at one moment in time, introducing a retrospective bias and posing problems with ecological validity. Because sex-related variables tend to fluctuate during and across days, we conducted a diary study to investigate temporal associations between sexual activity, body image, and sexual self-concept discrepancies on a day-to-day basis in binary transgender and cisgender individuals. Sixteen transgender women, 26 transgender men, 25 cisgender women, and 25 cisgender men completed a short questionnaire every morning and every evening for a period of three weeks, assessing sexual activity, motives for (not) engaging in sexual activities, stress, body image, sexual self-concept discrepancies, and mood. Their data will be compared with those of cisgender individuals, matched on basic demographic variables. Data collection of the cisgender group is currently still ongoing. Using longitudinal multilevel analyses, we address the following questions: 1) Do cisgender and transgender individuals differ in their motives for (not) engaging in sexual activities? 2) Can mood and body image on a given day predict sexual activities the following day and is this the same in cisgender and transgender individuals? 3) Can mood and body image predict sexual self-concept discrepancies and can these predict sexual activity and is this different for cisgender and transgender individuals? Because the data collection is in its final phase, we currently do not have results yet but do plan to present them at the conference. Because the data collection is in its final phase, we currently do not have results yet but do plan to present them at the conference. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.