The time-lagged impact of microaggressions at work on the emotional exhaustion of transgender and gender diverse employees

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Table 1. Measures of focal variables.

Variable	Source	Response format	Item N°	Cronbach’s α	Sample item
Microaggressions at work^a	Resnick & Galupo (2019)	1 = never; 5 = a great deal	18	α T1 = .91	During the past 12 months in your workplace, how often have you had colleagues, clientele, or your work environment address you using incorrect pronouns?
Emotional exhaustion	Maslach & Jackson (1981)	1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree	9	α T2 = .94,α T3 = .93	I feel emotionally drained from my work.
Perceived social support^c	Zimet (1988)	1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree	12	α T1 = .89	There is a special person who is around when I am in need.
Identity centrality^b	Thoroughgood et al. (2021)	1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree	4	α T1 = .73	In general, being transgender is an important part of my self-image.
Identity pride	Testa et al. (2015)	1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree	8	α T1 = .85	My gender identity or expression makes me feel special and unique.

^a This checklist measures how often LGBTQ microaggressions occur in the workplace, including subscales focusing on workplace values, heteronormative assumptions, and cisnormative culture. For this study, heteronormative assumptions items (n = 9) were excluded.

^b The scale was originally developed by Sellers at al. (1997) in the context of race. In this study we use Thoroughgood et al. (2021)’s adaptation to transgender identity centrality.

^c The scale includes three subscales focusing on an individual’s perceptions of support from friends, family and significant others respectively.

Table 2. Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample (N = 366).

Characteristics	n (%) or Mean ± SD
Gender
Non-binary	137 (37.4%)
Woman	98 (26.8%)
Man	95 (26.0%)
Other^a	33 (9.0%)
Undisclosed	3 (0.8%)
Race/Ethnicity
White/Caucasian	322 (88.0%)
Ethnic minority^b	24 (6.6%)
Mixed	15 (4.1%)
Undisclosed	5 (1.4%)
Age (years)	30.93 ± 8.41
Organizational Tenure (years)	4.01 ± 4.23
Gender Socialization (at work)
Everyone	114 (31.1%)
Some people	183 (50.0%)
Closeted	69 (18.9%)
Country
United States	256 (69.9%)
Netherlands	32 (8.7%)
Canada	16 (4.4%)
New Zealand	16 (4.4%)
United Kingdom	16 (4.4%)
Germany	7 (1.9%)
Australia	6 (1.6%)
Other^c	17 (4.6%)

^a Individuals self-identified their gender with a myriad of identities including agender, androgynous, autigender, demiboy, demigirl, genderfae, gender-fluid, genderflux, genderqueer, leitī, maverique, trans femme, transfeminine, transmasculine, xenogender, or reported more than one coexisting gender identities.

^b Including Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals.

^c Including individuals from Poland, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Table 3. Means, Standard deviations, and correlations of main variables.

	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. Microaggressions T1	2.11	.77	1
2. Emotional exhaustion T2	4.57	1.57	.28**	1
3. Emotional exhaustion T3	4.57	1.46	.29**	.82**	1
4. Perceived social support T1	4.91	1.24	−.12*	−.31**	−.25**	1
5. Identity centrality T1	5.08	1.28	−.20**	−.05	.01	−.08	1
6. Identity pride T1	3.41	.87	.02	−.25**	−.12	.44**	.31**	1

* p < .05, **p < .01.

Table 4. Multiple regression analyses for moderators and microaggressions on emotional exhaustion.

		Time 2						Time 3
	Step and Variable	B	SE B	95% CI	β	R^2	ΔR^2	B	SE B	95% CI	β	R^2	ΔR^2
H1	Microaggressions	.62	.17	[.29, .94]	.28**	.08	.08**	.59	.18	[.24, .94]	.29**	.08	.08**
H2a	Step 1					.15	.15**					.12	.12**
	Microaggressions	.51	.16	[.20, .83]	.24**			.50	.18	[.20, .89]	.24**
	Perceived Social Support	−.43	.13	[-.69, −.20]	−.26**			−.29	.13	[-.49, −.05]	−.19*
	Step 2					.15	< .01					.12	< .01
	Microaggressions x Perceived Social Support	.04	.18	[-.30, .39]	.02			.04	.13	[.17, .84]	.02
H2b	Step 1					.08	.08**					.08	.08**
	Microaggressions	.61	.17	[.29, .94]	.28**			.59	.17	[.15, .85]	.29**
	Identity Centrality	−.06	.12	[-.29, .17]	−.04			< −.01	.12	[-.54, .85]	< −.01
	Step 2					.08	< .01					.08	< .01
	Microaggressions x Identity Centrality	.04	.18	[-.30, .31]	.02			.11	.21	[-.23, .30]	.06
H2c	Step 1					.13	.13**					.08	.10**
	Microaggressions	.56	.16	[.24, .88]	.26**			.59	.18	[.24, .94]	.29**
	Identity Pride	−.33	.12	[-.56, −10]	−.21**			−.18	.12	[-.43, .06]	−.12
	Step 2					.11	< .01					.08	< .01
	Microaggressions x Identity Pride	−.03	.17	[-.37, .30]	−.02			−.06	.20	[-.45, .32]	−.03

* p < .05, **p < .01.

Figure 2. Mediation diagrams. Note: a, b, c, and c’ are path coefficients representing unstandardized regression weights for the relationships between perceived social support and emotional exhaustion as mediated through microaggressions. The standardized coefficients are in parentheses. The c path coefficient represents the total effect, and the c-prime path coefficient refers to the direct effect. *p < .05, **p < .01.

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