Disparities in behaviors and experiences among transgender and cisgender high school students — 18 U.S. states, 2021

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Ann Epidemiol
• Personal Author:
  Suarez, Nicolas A. ; McKinnon, Izraelle I. ; Krause, Kathleen H. ; Rasberry, Catherine N. ; Pampati, Sanjana ; Underwood, J. Michael
• Description:
  Purpose:
  
  Transgender youth (those whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth) experience stigma and discrimination that can place them at increased risk for poor health outcomes compared with cisgender youth (those whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth). Limited population-based data exist on disparities among transgender and cisgender youth.
  
  Methods:
  
  We examined differences in experiences of violence, substance use, mental health, suicide, sexual behavior, unstable housing, parental monitoring, and school connectedness among 98,174 transgender and cisgender high school students using data from 18 states that included an item to assess transgender identity on their 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
  
  Results:
  
  Overall, 2.9% of students identified as transgender and 2.6% questioned whether they were transgender. Among transgender students, 71.5% reported that their mental health was not good, 32.3% had attempted suicide, and 29.0% experienced sexual violence. Transgender students were more likely than cisgender students to report experiences of violence, substance use, poor mental health, suicide risk, some sexual risk behaviors, and unstable housing, and were less likely to report feeling connected to others at school.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Interventions that can address the causes of these adverse outcomes and promote the health and wellbeing of transgender youths are warranted.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adolescent Behavior Female Health Status Disparities Humans Male Mental Health Risk-Taking Schools Sexual Behavior Social Stigma Students Substance-Related Disorders Transgender Persons United States Violence

  More +
• Keywords:
  Adolescent Health Mental Health Substance Use Transgender Unstable Housing
• Source:
  Ann Epidemiol. 94:113-119
• Pubmed ID:
  38734191
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11134401
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  94
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b081bc0437819231d40116315f03c68c0c1dea277481dcfb8de9996172fcb9bd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/157097/cdc_157097_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 366.20 KB ]