Personality Characteristics of Transsexuals

The goal of the present research was to assess the personality characteristics of the transsexuals applying for sex reassignment surgery. To this end, 25 applicants for the sex reassignment surgery (14 male-to-female, and 11 female-to-male) referring to the officeof Forensic Medicine were administered the MMPI-2. The control group consisted of 25 normal volunteers matched for age, gender, marital status, and level of education. The results were analyzed by calculating means, standard deviations, and using t-test. On thebasis of results obtained it can be concluded that:1) The means of the scores for the experimental group as a whole were higher than the means for the control group;2)The means the male applicants for the sex reassignment surgery were higher than the means for male participants of the normal group;3)The means for the female applicants were higher than the means for the females of the control group;4)The means of the scores for the male applicants for the sex reassignment surgery were higher than the means for the females of the same group. On the basis of these findings it may be said that disorders manifested in transsexuals, in general, may be attributed to their social and family problems as well as stresses and emotional pressures they are facing.