Transgender counseling attitudes among first year graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology

Transgender individuals who seek counseling have diverse experiences, identities, and goals. In keeping with contemporary standards of care for counseling transgender individuals, effective counselors have fluid attitudes towards the treatment of transgender clients and are tolerant of diversity among transgender individuals. This paper explores transgender counseling attitudes among first year graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology, and presents results of an exploratory factor analysis of a scale measuring transgender counseling attitudes, provides data on its psychometric properties, and explores its association with counselors' beliefs in sex differences. Results revealed that the rigidity in transgender counseling attitudes scale was valid and reliable. The study found a significant association between belief in sex differences and transgender counseling attitudes. Additionally, sexual orientation moderated this relation such that higher belief in sex differences among heterosexuals was associated with more rigid transgender counseling. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.