Understanding daily and momentary drinking motives among transgender and gender diverse adults

Abstract

Background

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adults may be at increased risk for alcohol use due to gender minority stress (GMS) and specific drinking motives.

Aim

The current study evaluated the relations between GMS and resilience, drinking motives, and alcohol outcomes among TGD adults.

Methods

Twenty-five primarily White TGD adults (7 transgender men, 7 transgender women, and 11 gender diverse) who were 19 years of age or older (mean: 32.60; SD: 10.82), lived in Canada, and drank regularly were prompted to complete surveys multiple times per day indexing drinking motives, GMS and resilience factors, contexts, and alcohol use and craving. Multilevel models examined predictors of each drinking motive and relations between drinking motives and alcohol outcomes at the daily and momentary levels.

Results

Days with increased GMS corresponded with increased social (p<.05) and conformity motives (p<.01). Days with increased resilience also corresponded with elevated social (p<.01) and conformity (p<.05) motives. Days with higher enhancement and social motives predicted increased alcohol use (ps<.01). All momentary motives were elevated when participants reported higher momentary resilience (p<.001). Significant associations between drinking motives, contexts, and alcohol craving were also evident.

Discussion

GMS and certain drinking motives may contribute to increased alcohol use and craving among TGD adults. Findings encourage the development of gender-inclusive interventions that address GMS and specific drinking motives to support a reduction in this population’s alcohol use.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• context
• drinking motives
• gender minority stress
• transgender

Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper wish to acknowledge the extraordinary assistance of CARE Lab research assistants who helped make this research possible. We also wish to thank the participants who shared their time and experiences with us for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was funded by start-up funds provided to S. Dermody by Toronto Metropolitan University. The author(s) reported there is no external funding associated with the work featured in this article.