The Mediating Role of Resilience on the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma Exposure and Narcissistic Traits of Transgender Individuals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2025.713Keywords:
Childhood trauma exposure, Narcissistic traits, Quantitative correlational design, Resilience, TransgenderAbstract
This study explored the relationship between childhood trauma exposure, narcissistic traits, and resilience among Filipino transgender individuals. Although prior research has established the long-term psychological impact of childhood trauma, limited attention has been given to how resilience may influence this association within transgender populations, particularly in Southeast Asian contexts. Guided by Developmental Trauma Theory (2005) and the Transgender Resilience Intervention Model (2018), it examined whether resilience mediates the link between trauma and narcissistic traits. Using a quantitative correlational design, data were gathered from 334 transgender participants through standardized measures (CTQ, CD-RISC, and NPI-16). Results revealed a significant positive relationship between childhood trauma exposure and narcissistic traits. However, resilience did not mediate this Relationship. Despite high trauma exposure, many participants exhibited strong resilience, suggesting the presence of protective factors. These findings contribute to the literature on trauma and personality development in transgender individuals living in non-Western contexts. The study underscores the interplay of trauma and personality in psychological distress and emphasizes the necessity of culturally sensitive mental health support for Filipino transgender individuals.
Downloads
References
American Psychological Association. (2012). Guidelines for psychological practice with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients. American Psychologist, 67(1), 10–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024659
Ames, D., Rose, P., & Anderson, C. (2006). The NPI-16 as a short measure of narcissism. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(4), 440–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.03.002
Amido, J. (2023, February 21). From margins to center: Prioritizing transgender health in the Philippines. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/59pw2cuj
Arnaldo, S. (2024, November). Trevor Project’s first PH survey shows mental health crisis of LGBTQ+ youth. Rappler. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/2x97by3x
Becker, P. (2010). Taking note of trends in age groupings. Research in Nursing & Health, 33(6), 475–476. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.20401
Bernardi, R., & Eidlin, M. (2018). Thin-skinned or vulnerable narcissism and thick-skinned or grandiose narcissism: Similarities and differences. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 99(2), 291–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2018.1425599
Bertele, N., Talmon, A., & Gross, J. (2020). Childhood maltreatment and narcissism: The mediating role of dissociation. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(11–12), NP8779–NP8802. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520984404
Bruce, T. A. (2019). Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) short form – A re-design of CTQ-SF. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22807.93609
Campbell-Sills, L., & Stein, M. (2007). Development and validation of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC): A 25-item measure of resilience. Psychiatry Research, 153(1), 93–100.
Cates, M. (2023, June 13). How childhood trauma affects the development of narcissism. NewsBreak Original.
Chavada, V., Priyadharshini, R., & Kurushev, J. (2021). Level of resilience among transgenders in selected areas of Puducherry, India: An exploratory research. Cureus, 13(3), e18413. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.18413
Cheng, C., Dong, D., He, J., Zhong, X., & Yao, S. (2020). Psychometric properties of the 10-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) in Chinese undergraduates and depressive patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 261, 211–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.10.018
Conde, E. R. (2021, March 6). Psychological resilience and flooding: The case of Teenage Transwomen (TTW) in Quezon City, Philippines. ACADEMIA. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/87amhmjb
Connor, K., & Davidson, J. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10113
Desiatco, A., Tabulina, K. E., Dela Cruz, K. D., & Manaois, J. (2024). The mediating role of employee engagement in the relationship between work-life balance and job burnout among millennials working remotely. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 8(3), 1095–1104. https://doi.org/10.47772/ijriss.2024.803082
Diamond, D., Yeomans, F., & Keefe, J. (2021). Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (TFP-N). Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 49(2), 244–272. https://doi.org/10.1521/pdps.2021.49.2.244
Duarte, M., Blay, M., Hasler, R., Pham, E., Nicastro, R., Jan, M., Debbané, M., & Perroud, N. (2024). Adult ADHD and pathological narcissism: A retrospective analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 174, 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.04.032
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5, 1–4.
https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Eustaquio, P., Castelo, A., Araña, Y., Corciega, J. O., Rosadiño, J. D., Pagtakhan, R., Regencia, Z. J., & Baja, E. (2022, April). Prevalence and factors associated with gender-affirming surgery among transgender women & transgender men in a community-based clinic in Metro Manila, Philippines: A retrospective study. Sexual Medicine, 10(2), 100497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esxm.2022.100497
Feil, K., Riedl, D., Böttcher, B., Fuchs, M., Kapelari, K., Gräßer, S., Toth, B., & Lampe, A. (2023). Higher prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in transgender than in cisgender individuals: Results from a single-center observational study. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(13), 4501. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12134501
Gao, S., Yu, D., Assink, M., Chan, K. L., Zhang, L., & Meng, X. (2023). The association between child maltreatment and pathological narcissism: A three-level meta-analytic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221147559
Hatchel, T., & Marx, R. (2018). Understanding intersectionality and resiliency among transgender adolescents: Exploring pathways among peer victimization, school belonging, and drug use. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(6), 1289. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061289
Hechanova, M. R., Jocson, R., Alianan, A. S., Delos Santos, J. J., Manaois, J., Gomez, G., & Lamzon, G. (2023). Developing resilience online: Evaluation of synchronous and asynchronous resilience interventions for Filipino college students. Research in Learning Technology, 31, Article 2890. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v31.2890
Heyer, W. (2022). Gender dysphoria and adverse childhood experiences. Public Discourse. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2022/04/81999/
Human Rights Watch. (2017). "Just Let Us Be": Discrimination against LGBT students in the Philippines. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/tkj6btm9
Kinney, M. K., & Cosgrove, D. (2022). “Truly Listen to Us”: Recommendations for health professionals to bolster wellbeing of nonbinary individuals. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9032. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159032
Li, Y., Yoshida, K., Kaufman, J. S., & Mathur, M. B. (2023). A brief primer on conducting regression-based causal mediation analysis. Psychological Trauma, 15(6), 930–938. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001421
Liebschutz, J. M., Buchanan-Howland, K., Chen, C. A., Frank, D. A., Richardson, M. A., Heeren, T. C., Cabral, H. J., & Rose-Jacobs, R. (2018). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) correlations with prospective violence assessment in a longitudinal cohort. Psychological Assessment, 30(6), 841–845. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000549
Ma, X., MacKinnon, D., Mathew, T., Agan, B., Luta, G., & Bebu, I. (2025). Generalized inference for mediation analysis. Mathematics, 13(3), 396. https://doi.org/10.3390/math13030396
Määttä, M., Määttä, K., Uusiautti, S., & Äärelä, T. (2020). “She does not control me anymore, but I can hear her voice sometimes”—A phenomenographic research on the resilience perceptions of children who have survived from upbringing by a narcissistic parent. European Journal of Education Studies, 6(12). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3662420
Mag, M. (2025, June 6). It’s more trans in the Philippines! PH leads Asia in transgender population. Metroscene. Mag - for the Young, Empowered & Creative; Blogger. https://tinyurl.com/2utnnj4m
Malone, L. (2017). Gender identity and childhood experiences: An introductory quantitative study of the relationship between gender identity and adverse childhood experiences. Theses, Dissertations, and Projects. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/1902
Martinez, A., Co, M., Lau, J., & Brown, J. (2020). Filipino help-seeking for mental health problems and associated barriers and facilitators: A systematic review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(11), 1397. Springer Science+Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01937-2
Matsuno, E., & Israel, T. (2018). Psychological interventions promoting resilience among transgender individuals: Transgender Resilience Intervention Model (TRIM). The Counseling Psychologist, 46(5), 632–655. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000018787261
Montoro, C., de la Coba, P., Moreno-Padilla, M., & Galvez-Sánchez, C. (2022). Narcissistic personality and its relationship with post-traumatic symptoms and emotional factors: Results of a mediational analysis aimed at personalizing mental health treatment. Behavioral Sciences, 12(4), 91. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12040091
Nicolas, F. J. (2018). Narcissistic parenting and transgender identity: A psychodynamic hypothesis. Journal of Gender Psychology, 14(2), 104–118.
Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce. (2018). LGBT workplace inclusion report. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/4jm2dhbm
Pincus, A., & Ménard, K. (2022). Gender, child abuse, and narcissism in interpersonal violence. Violence and Victims, 37(5), 569–587. https://doi.org/10.1891/VV-2021-0030
Puckett, J. A., Tornello, S., Mustanski, B., & Newcomb, M. E. (2021). Gender variations, generational effects, and mental health of transgender people in relation to timing and status of gender identity milestones. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000391
Rafferty, J. (2021). Childhood abuse among transgender youth: A trauma-informed approach. Pediatrics, e2021050216. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-050216
Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the narcissistic personality inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 890–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.890
Raj, P., & Dubey, A. (2024). Comprehending health of the transgender population in India through bibliometric analysis. International Journal of Public Health, 69. https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2024.1606598
Ramos, N., & Marr, M. (2023). Traumatic stress and resilience among transgender and gender diverse youth. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 32(4), 667–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2023.04.001
Ronningstam, E. (2016). Pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder: Recent research and clinical implications. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3(1), 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0060-y
Ross, A., Giri, S., Anyasodor, A., Mahmood, S., Astawesegn, F., Huda, M. M., Ahmed, K., Mondal, U., & Thapa, S. (2024). Adverse childhood experiences leading to narcissistic personality disorder: A case report. BMC Psychiatry, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06307-9
Rothbaum, B., Etengoff, C., & Uribe, E. (2021). Transgender community resilience on YouTube: Constructing an informational, emotional, and sociorelational support exchange. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22781
Şar, V., & Türk-Kurtça, T. (2021). The vicious cycle of traumatic narcissism and dissociative depression among young adults: A trans-diagnostic approach. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2020.1869644
Schnarrs, P., Stone, A., Salcido, R., Baldwin, A., Georgiou, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2019). The intersection of adverse childhood experiences and gender identity among transgender adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(23–24), 4917–4943.
Sękowski, M., Subramanian, Ł., & Żemojtel-Piotrowska, M. (2021). Are narcissists resilient? Examining grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in the context of a three-dimensional model of resilience. Current Psychology, 42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01577-y
Southwick, S., & Charney, D. (2012). Resilience: The science of mastering life's greatest challenges. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139013857
Starbird, A., & Story, P. (2020). Consequences of childhood memories: Narcissism, malevolent, and benevolent childhood experiences. Child Abuse & Neglect, 108, 104656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104656
Thoma, B., Rezeppa, T., Choukas-Bradley, S., Salk, R., & Marshal, M. (2021). Disparities in childhood abuse between transgender and cisgender adolescents. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2020016907. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-016907
Toof, J., Wong, J., & Devlin, J. (2020). Childhood trauma and attachment. The Family Journal, 28(2), 194–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480720902106
UNICEF Philippines. (2023). 2023 Annual report of UNICEF Philippines country office. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/43bmrd4k
UNICEF Philippines. (2023). UNICEF Philippines report on online and offline violence (2023). UNICEF Philippines.
van der Kolk, B. (2005). Developmental trauma disorder: Toward a rational diagnosis for children with complex trauma histories. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 401–408. https://doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20050501-06
Wollny, A. I., & Jacobs, I. (2021). Validity and reliability of the German versions of the CD-RISC-10 and CD-RISC-2. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01670-2
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.