Journal Article

High Burden of Mental Health Problems, Substance Use, Violence, and Related Psychosocial Factors in Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Diverse Youth and Young Adults

Whitton, Sarah W., Mustanski, Brian, Newcomb, Michael E., Hill, Ricky, Ryan, Daniel T., Buehler, Kathleen

2020

Overview

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people are disproportionately impacted by various health issues and associated risk factors, but little is known about differences in these outcomes between gender identities within the TGD population. This study characterized the health of a diverse sample of TGD youth and young adults. Data were taken from the baseline visit of two longitudinal studies in the Chicago area, RADAR ( N  = 1079, M age = 20.8 years) and FAB 400 ( N  = 488, M age = 19.57 years), which are cohorts of young sexual and gender minorities assigned male at birth (AMAB) and assigned female at birth (AFAB), respectively. There was a combined sample of 214 TGD (128 AFAB, 86 AMAB) individuals across cohorts. We examined differences between gender identities in self-reported health and related psychosocial variables, and compared TGD youth and their cisgender sexual minority peers from their cohort of origin on all variables. Among TGD youth, we found high rates of depression and suicidality (ideation, plan, attempt), violence (trauma, victimization, childhood sexual abuse), and substance use (cigarette, alcohol, illicit drug use). With the exception of depression, transgender women and non-binary AMAB youth reported worse health outcomes than transgender men and non-binary AFAB youth. Non-binary AMAB youth reported the highest rates of certain outcomes, including traumatic experiences and suicidal ideation. TGD youth generally reported worse outcomes than cisgender sexual minority youth; these differences were less pronounced among AFAB youth. Findings point to the diversity of experiences within the TGD population and critical needs for intervention approaches to mitigate health disparities.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adult / Adults / Alcohol abuse / Alcohol use / Behavioral Science and Psychology / Child & adolescent psychiatry / Child sexual abuse / Childhood / Cisgender / Cohort Studies / Drug abuse / Female / Gender / Gender differences / Gender Identity / Health disparities / Health problems / Health status / Humans / Identity / LGBTQ people / Longitudinal studies / Male / Mental depression / Mental disorders / Mental health / Mental Health - standards / Minority groups / Non-binary gender / Original Paper / Psychology / Psychology - methods / Psychosocial factors / Public Health / Risk Factors / Self concept / Self destructive behavior / Sexual abuse / Sexual Behavior / Sexual violence / Smoking / Social Sciences / Substance abuse / Substance-Related Disorders - psychology / Suicidal ideation / Suicide / Suicides & suicide attempts / Teenagers / Transgender persons / Transgender Persons - psychology / Trauma / Traumatic life events / Variables / Victimization / Violence / Violence - psychology / Young Adult / Young adults / Youth