A comparison of mental health symptomatology and levels of social support in young treatment seeking transgender individuals who identify as binary and non-binary

Nat Thorne · Gemma L. Witcomb · Timo Ole Nieder · Elena Nixon · Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip · Jon Arcelus

165 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Transgenderism

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy Gender, Sexuality, and Education Gender Roles and Identity Studies

Abstract

Background: Previous research has consistently reported high rates of mental health symptomatology and lower social support in young treatment seeking transgender individuals. However, these studies have failed to distinguish between transgender people who identify within the gender binary and those who identify as non-binary. Aims: This study aimed to compare levels of mental health symptomatology (anxiety, depression, and non-suicidal self-injury behavior) and social support of treatment seeking non-binary transgender young individuals with those self-identified as binary transgender young individuals. All participants attended a national transgender health service in the UK during a 2-year period. Measures: Age and gender identity descriptors were collected, as well as clinical measures of anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), self-esteem (The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), non-suicidal self-injury (Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Treatment Related), and social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Results: A total of 388 young people, aged 16–25 years, agreed participation; 331 (85.3%) identified as binary and 57 (14.7%) as non-binary. Analysis of the data showed the non-binary group experienced significantly more anxiety and depression and had significantly lower self-esteem than the binary group. There were no significant differences between groups in the likelihood of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury behavior or levels of social support.Conclusions: Non-binary identifying treatment seeking transgender youth are at increased risk of developing anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem compared to binary transgender youth. This may reflect the even greater barriers and feelings of discrimination that may be faced by those whose identity does not fit the notion of binary gender that is pervasive in how society views both cis- and transgender populations.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 165 citations exist upstream.

References

1983The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale 1965Society and the Adolescent Self-Image 2005Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication 2003Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence.1988The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support 2002The validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale 1990Psychometric Characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support 2001Measuring Global Self-Esteem: Construct Validation of a Single-Item Measure and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Cited by

2020Gender Fluidity and Nonbinary Gender Identities Among Children and Adolescents 2021Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Individuals Engaged in a Longitudinal Cohort Study 2020Lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors in gender non-conforming youths: a meta-analysis 2020Youths with a non-binary gender identity: a review of their sociodemographic and clinical profile

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.