Community Connectedness and Depression in Transgender Populations: the Role of Self-Focused Attention

Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals are at increased risk for depression, making it important to understand the factors that may contribute to or attenuate this disparity. Community connectedness is one such factor, but prior research regarding its effect on depression has been mixed. It is possible that these mixed findings may be because community connectedness leads to multiple types of self-focused attention (i.e., gender reflection, gender rumination, and preoccupation with others’ perceptions) which then have opposing effects on depression. To explore this possibility, the current study sought to test a mediation model in which the three types of self-focused attention would mediate the relationship between community connectedness and depression. Cross-sectional data were collected using online surveys with 309 TNB young adults aged 18–30 years old. As hypothesized, preoccupation with others’ perceptions was a significant mediator explaining 35.85% of the variance in depression. Contrary to expectations, gender reflection and gender rumination were not significant mediators. However, community connectedness significantly predicted greater gender reflection, while gender rumination predicted greater depression. The present results indicate that different types of self-focused attention have differing effects on depression in this population, suggesting that clinicians working with TNB young adults should target the ways that these clients think about their gender identity. Additionally, connection to the TNB community can have multiple effects on thought processes, and efforts should be made to maximize the benefits while minimizing the costs. Future research should test these relationships using longitudinal designs and at different ages, as well as assess whether aspects of the community connectedness itself (e.g., co-rumination in TNB spaces, online vs. in-person connection) may have different effects.