MONTREAL – Transgender and non-binary teens are at a much higher risk than their cisgender peers of having suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide, a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal warns.
MONTREAL – Transgender and non-binary teens are at a much higher risk than their cisgender peers of having suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide, a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal warns.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Ottawa and published Monday, indicates that more than half of transgender teens said they had seriously considered suicide in the 12 months before the survey.
In all, 14 percent of teens reported having suicidal thoughts during the previous year, while 6.8 percent said they had attempted suicide. Transgender youth were five times more likely to have considered suicide and 7.6 times more likely to have attempted suicide compared to young people who are cisgender: people whose gender identity corresponds to their sex at birth .
“This is very worrying,” said Dr. Ian Colman, author of the study, based at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa School of Medicine. “While the stigma is declining, even as we see social progress in this area, it seems that our teens continue to experience difficulties.”
The data studied by Colman and colleagues came from the Canadian Child and Adolescent Health Survey published by Statistics Canada in 2019. Its sample consisted of 6,800 adolescents aged 15 to 17 years, the vast majority of whom (99 .4%) were identified as cisgender and 0.6% as transgender.
The majority (78.6%) of survey participants identified as heterosexual, 14.7% said they were attracted to more than one gender, and 4.3% were unsure of their gender. attraction. The survey indicated that 1.6% of respondents were young women who said they were attracted to the same sex, while 0.8% of respondents were boys who said they were attracted to boys.
“One in five teens is a sexual or gender minority,” Colman said, adding that the results of the survey indicated that mental health issues are not a small issue.
“When you think that more than half of young transgender people have recently decided to end their lives, it means that even if we are aware of the problem and try to help them, it is not enough, and we must do “To try to provide safe spaces for these young people, because they are going through a difficult time for everyone,” he said.
Adolescence can be a turbulent time, especially for young transgender people, and even those who can count on the support of those around them will not be entirely immune to confusion, Colman said. It’s even harder, he said, for young people who don’t have that support and have to weather the storm alone.
Researchers say the association between contemplating or attempting suicide and belonging to a sexual or gender minority is partly explained by the harassment or cyberbullying that these young people are subjected to.
The findings of the Ontario study are consistent with those of a Quebec survey, the results of which were published earlier this year and found that young people who claimed to have a “different gender identity “They were up to three times more likely than their peers to be concerned. signs of mental health problems.
These young people, for example, were much more likely than others to perceive their mental health as “just” or “poor”; experience moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety or depression; or having recently considered that it would be better for him to end his life.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canada among adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2022.
Jean-Benoit Legault, The Canadian Press