Development and Evaluation of the Gender Expression Attitudes Towards Transgender Clients Scale

Effective counselors recognize the diversity that exists in gender expression among transgender and gender nonconforming clients. To aid this understanding, we present the development and evaluation of the Gender Expression Attitudes Towards Transgender Clients scale. In Study I (N = 300 trainees in helping professions), we found evidence of three adequately reliable factors: Emphasis on Assigned Sex Expression, Affirmation of Gender Expression in All Forms, and Generalized Emphasis on Gender Binary Expression. In Study II (N = 202 trainees and practitioners), only the Affirmation of Gender Expression in All Forms subscale was negatively associated with gender essentialist and gender immutable attitudes, and was positively associated with recent guidelines for clinical care of transgender clients. The Emphasis on Assigned Sex Expression subscale was positively associated with gender immutability and negatively associated with guidelines for clinical care of transgender clients, as was the Generalized Emphasis on Gender Binary Expression subscale.