An exploration of transgender identity through the implicit association test (IAT)

Abstract

Objective: The strength and intensity of the identification with their desired gender might prove a useful index to orient clinicians and transgender clients to identify the optimal treatment option and “taylor” clinical interventions to the client’s needs (different levels of
body modification, changing gender expression etc.). It is reasonable to assume that the assessment of gender identity might benefit from the adoption of implicit techniques, which are intended to measure psychological constructs operating in an automatic (i.e. non-conscious) mode. This study aims at investigating the validity and clinical utility of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998) in the exploration of gender identity. The IAT measures the relative strength of the association between pairs of concepts by comparing response times on two combined discrimination tasks; it’s an implicit technique whose validity and reliability is now well-established in other fields of psychology, both in research settings and in applied psychology (Lane et al., 2007).
Methods: The study aims at exploring the validity of the IAT-Gender Identity (IAT-GI) in two versions: picture and words; it aims at ascertaining the IAT-GI’s convergence with explicit measure of gender identity, gender dysphoria and sex roles (GIDYQ-AA; BSRI) and its capacity to discriminate among different groups according to gender identification and regardless of biological sex and sexual orientation. In particular, we will compare the performance on the IAT-GI of two groups of clients with a formal diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria (20 MtFs and 20 FtMs) consecutively admitted at Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital in Milan (Italy), with groups of heterosexual and homosexual cisgender controls from the community.
Results: The performance on the IAT-GI in the transsexual group has no significant differences with that of the control group of the same gender.
Conclusion: The performance on the IAT-GI appears to reflect the strength and intensity of gender identification and is independent of biological sex and sexual orientation. Implications for clinical practice will be discussed.