Empatia e compaixão como mecanismo associado à redução da transfobia na população geral portuguesa adulta

Abstract

The life experiences of trans people are associated with heightened experiences of discrimination, social rejection and prejudice. From a psychological point of view, trans people, because they belong to a minority group, have an increased risk of developing psychopathologies and experiencing psychological suffering. The main objective of this study was to analyze the relative contribution of empathy and compassion towards other people in transphobia, controlling for positive and negative affect, in order to understand which is more strongly associated with lower levels of transphobia. The sample is composed of N = 271 participants from the general population. The instruments were applied in order to assess transphobia through acceptance and comfort with the gender spectrum and social tolerance, as well as the dimensions of empathy and compassion for other people. Regression model analyzes did not find statistical significance, however a tendency towards compassion for other people was found as a better predictor for social tolerance. Analysis of correlations revealed an association with compassion for other people with both scales of transphobia. Difference tests found higher levels of transphobia in people who had never had contact with trans, heterosexual and religious people. These results indicate a greater affinity of compassion for other people with less transphobia, in the sense that future investigations may derive a greater contribution from the analysis of this variable.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	SÉRGIO ANDRADE CARVALHO (Supervisor) & Patrícia M. Pascoal (Supervisor)