Examining Mental Health Differences Between Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Cisgender Young People in British Columbia.

Rachal Pattison,Steve Mathias,Skye Barbic,Marco Zenone,Allison Giesbrecht,Joseph H Puyat

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.720681

Abstract

Foundry is an integrated service network delivering services to young people across British Columbia, Canada. To better understand the needs of transgender and gender nonconforming young people accessing Foundry—this study compares rates of mental health distress between transgender and gender nonconforming young people and cisgender young people accessing services and examines the extent to which race may have amplified the association between transgender and gender nonconforming identity and mental health distress. We analyzed the difference using a two-sample t-test. We used stratified simple linear regression to test the association of race with transgender and gender nonconforming identity and mental health distress. Participants were recruited from a network of community health centers in British Columbia, Canada. The quantitative sample (n = 727) had a mean age of 21 years (SD = 2), 48% were non-white, 51% were white, and 77% were from Metro Vancouver. Compared to cisgender young people, transgender and gender nonconforming young people reported significantly higher levels of mental health distress. Transgender and gender nonconforming youth were more distressed than cisgender youth across both race strata but non-white transgender and gender nonconforming young people were not more distressed than white transgender and gender nonconforming young people. The findings from this study emphasize the need for increased education and understanding of transgender and gender nonconforming concepts and health concerns as well as on promoting intersectoral collaboration of social services organizations beyond simply health care.

Highlights

In Canada, people aged 15–24 years have the highest rates of mental health concerns than any other age group and nearly 20% of young people experience a mental disorder compared to 9.8% of those aged 25–64 years [1]
The results of the t-test indicated that, when compared with cisgender youth, Transgender or gender non-conforming (TGNC) youth showed significantly higher average scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)
This study found that TGNC young people were significantly more distressed than their cisgender peers at the point of data collection and that youth seeking care were significantly more distressed than youth in the population

Summary

Introduction

In Canada, people aged 15–24 years have the highest rates of mental health concerns than any other age group and nearly 20% of young people experience a mental disorder compared to 9.8% of those aged 25–64 years [1]. Much of the research on gender and mental health outcomes has focused on the differences between men and women. This report found that women have higher prevalence rates than men in comorbidity of three or more disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and agoraphobia, etc.). With this recognition of gender differences in mental health, the WHO further stipulates that individuals who do not fit into the socially constructed categories for gender (i.e., the gender binary of man/woman) face stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion, all of which have a negative impact on health outcomes [3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion