Comparison of Perceived Social Support and Life Satisfaction in Patients with Gender Dysphoria

Introduction: The term “gender identity” denotes the consistency of one’s emotional and cognitive experience of one’s own gender and the objective manifestations of a particular gender (Hess, et.al, 2014). Gender dysphoria is a condition where an individual experiences significant distress because his or her sex assigned at birth does not align with his or her gender identity. This condition was previously referred to as gender identity disorder until the recent publication of diagnostic and statistical Manual of mental disorder, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). DSM-5 renamed the condition to emphasize that gender nonconformity is not a mental disorder in itself. Many patients with gender dysphoria, however, greatly benefit from both psychological and medical treatment to reduce their distress (Strandjord, Ng, & Rome, 2015). However, the most recent research has found that the sex reassignment surgery has positive impacts on patients with gender dysphoria (e.g. Ruppin & Pfäfflin, 2015; Johansson et al, 2010; Colizzi et al, 2015), whereas there are some findings and ideas that disapprove the sex reassignment surgery (Levin et al, 1990; Levey & Curfman, 2004), because of some negative serious side effects. Regarding to the importance of this issue, the present study aimed to compare the level of perceived social support and life satisfaction in people with gender dysphoria. Material & Methods The research method is casual-comparative and the statistical population includes Iranian Patients with Gender Dysphoria in 2016. Sample included 47 Male-To-Female and 47 Female-To-Male (94 people) who were selected by purposive sampling and snowball sampling method. The tools used in this study include life satisfaction scale. Diener et al (SWLS) and multidimensional scale of perceived social support, Zimet and colleagues (MSPSS) respectively. To analyze the data, statistical evaluation was performed using SPSS. Discussion of Results and Conclusions: The results showed that the level of perceived social support in FTM individuals was more than MTF, which is consistent with the results of research by Parola et al. (2010). According to psychoanalytic theorists, gender differences in using of social support are rooted in different childhood experiences and in the face of different developmental tasks (Pins & Zeidman, 2003). These results can also be explained by the fact that FTM individuals with gender dysphoria instability have less difficulty to find the social position than MTF (Parula et al., 2010). People with gender dysphoria who were at different treatment steps, had no significant difference in the level of social support that perceived by important others. This probably means that important others in all condition, including before, after and during the treatment, provide supports for people with gender dysphoria. The life satisfaction among MTF and FTM individuals also had no significant difference. This finding is consistent with the results of Neg et al. (2009); Ghahreman (2010), Iman and Kaveh (2012). However, some studies have shown that there is a significant difference between men and women in terms of life satisfaction, but most findings are in contradiction with each other. The contradiction in the findings probably indicates the impact of cultural, social and economic differences, as well as the difference in the age of the subjects. Finally, findings indicated that among people with gender dysphoria who had completed the course of treatment to change gender, the perceived social support from family and friends and life satisfaction were more than other people. Sex reassignment surgery helps people with gender dysphoria to match their physical sex with their sexual identity and social activities (Younes and Khalkhali, 2015; Ruppin & Pfäfflin, 2015). Thus the person becomes psychologically relaxed and his/ her behaviors are aligned with his or her gender. The achievement of a new sexual identity restores his connections with the community and others. This people find normal life by gaining a reputation and position in society and passing the basic needs. These findings suggest surgery, for people with gender dysphoria. However due to the limited sample, generalization should be used with caution. In addition, it is necessary to do more research on this issue, especially longitudinal research.