2015 December | Jaclyn M. White Hughto, MPH, Sari L. Reisner, ScD, and John E. Pachankis, PhD
This critical review integrates the literature on stigma towards transgender people in the United States, highlighting its impact on their health. Transgender stigma operates at multiple levels—individual, interpersonal, and structural—and limits opportunities and access to resources in critical domains such as employment and healthcare. The review emphasizes the need for multi-level interventions to reduce stigma and its adverse health effects. Key findings include the prevalence of interpersonal and structural stigma, which are linked to poor health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and HIV. The review also discusses the effectiveness of various interventions, including individual-level coping strategies, community support, collective activism, and policy changes at the structural level. Finally, it calls for further research to document the causal relationship between stigma and health, examine mediators and moderators of stigma, and develop and test multi-level interventions.This critical review integrates the literature on stigma towards transgender people in the United States, highlighting its impact on their health. Transgender stigma operates at multiple levels—individual, interpersonal, and structural—and limits opportunities and access to resources in critical domains such as employment and healthcare. The review emphasizes the need for multi-level interventions to reduce stigma and its adverse health effects. Key findings include the prevalence of interpersonal and structural stigma, which are linked to poor health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and HIV. The review also discusses the effectiveness of various interventions, including individual-level coping strategies, community support, collective activism, and policy changes at the structural level. Finally, it calls for further research to document the causal relationship between stigma and health, examine mediators and moderators of stigma, and develop and test multi-level interventions.