The Relationship Between Gender-Affirming Procedures, Body Image Quality of Life, and Gender Affirmation.

This study explored whether self-reported barriers to accessing a health care provider, gender-affirming procedures, and relevant psychosocial measures were related to experienced gender affirmation in a cross-sectional sample of trans individuals ( N =101). Body image quality of life [ b =0.181, t (4.277) , p <0.001] and the number of gender-affirming procedures [ b =0.084, t (2.904), p =0.005] were significant predictors of transgender congruence, a measure of gender affirmation, and accounted for 40% of the adjusted variance in transgender congruence scores F (2, 89)=31.363, p <0.001, R 2 =0.413. Results suggest that experiencing a barrier to gender-affirming health care is associated with anticipation of discrimination and provides further evidence that gender-affirming health care is associated with positive psychosocial outcomes.