Authors: Wurm, M., Högström, J., Tillfors, M., Lindståhl, M & Norell, A.
Date of publication: 2024
Journal: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
Summary: This is a Swedish study that looked at data from a school-based survey of 3067 Swedish youth. The gender identities reported were girl (1544 students) boy (1482 students) and other (41 students). The aim was to explore the prevalence of Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth in the general population as well as health outcomes of TGD youth and cisgender boys and girls.
This study found that TGD youth and cisgender girls scored worse than cisgender boys on scales of anxiety, social anxiety, depression, insomnia, self-harm, and pain. TGD youth were found to experience higher rates of insomnia and musculoskeletal pain than both cisgender boys and girls. The higher rates in TGD and cisgender girls is due to the higher stress experienced by these populations, known as minority stress. Minority stress is chronic stressors directly related to a person’s minority status, for example, being misgendered, getting funny looks or experiencing violence. These increased rates of stress place TGD youth at higher risk of health-related problems compared to their cisgender peers.
In addition to health outcomes, this study found that a higher percentage (1.3%) of youth identified as something other than their assigned gender than is indicated by medical and legal sources, suggesting that not all TGD youth come into contact with health care providers for help.
You can read the full study here
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