Transgender Persons and Emotion-Based Self Theory: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Social constructivists emphasize that self and emotions are the product of ongoing social interaction. Individuals create meanings and shape emotional experiences within a specific cultural context, shaped by norms, values, beliefs, and ideas acquired through socialization and social interaction (Barbalet, 2006). This qualitative systematic literature review examines the importance of the interpersonal-constructivist view of David Boyns’ (2006) emotion-based self-theory and employs it in studying the emotions and self-experiences of transgender individuals in daily life. It synthesized data from 18 selected studies on transgender persons’ lived experiences, obtained from the three databases: SPRINGER LINK, SCOPUS and JSTORE. It integrates the data with interpersonal-constructivists’ approach to emotion-based self. The study findings revealed that transgender persons experience diverse emotions across different life stages that contribute to their emotion-based self-construction. This research highlights the dynamic interplay between social norms, individual experiences, and the construction of emotional identities, calling for more inclusive and contextually aware approaches to studying gender and emotion. This article concludes that there is a need for detailed studies to understand transgender persons’ emotions and self within their sociocultural contexts. It also proposes viewing the emotion-based self as multifaceted, ever-emerging, performative, and reflexive in social life.