Summary: This Australian study provides a snapshot of what is known of the current mental health and wellbeing outcomes of LGBTIQ+ people in Australia by bringing together numerous Australian studies. The researchers highlight that while many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer people and other sexuality and gender diverse (LGBTIQ+) people live healthy and happy lives, research has demonstrated that a disproportionate number experience poorer mental health outcomes and have higher risk of suicidal behaviours than their peers. These health outcomes are directly related to experiences of stigma, prejudice, discrimination and abuse on the basis of being LGBTIQ+. Of note, they found that for gender diverse teens and adults:
Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation
- Gender diverse people aged 14-25 are fifteen times more likely to attempt suicide compared to the general population.
- 48.1% of gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 reported that they had attempted suicide in their lifetime.
- 35% of gender diverse people aged 18 and over reported that they had attempted suicide in their lifetime.
- 28% of gender questioning young people between 14 and 21 years reported that they had attempted suicide.
- 41% of gender diverse people aged 18 years and over reported thoughts of suicide or self-harm in the last two weeks.
Self-harm
- Gender diverse people aged 18 and over are six and a half times more likely to engage in self-harm compared to the general population.
- 53% of gender diverse people aged 18 and over reported having self-harmed in their lifetime, while 11% reported they were currently self-harming.
- 79.7% of gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 reported having self-harmed in their lifetime.
Mental health conditions
- Gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 are over seven times more likely to experience and be diagnosed with depression compared to the general population.
- Gender diverse people aged 18 and over are five and a half times more likely to experience and be diagnosed with depression compared to the general population.
- 57.2% of gender diverse people aged 18 and over reported having been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime.
- 74% of gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 reported having been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime.
- Gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 are five and a half times more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety in their lifetime compared to the general population.
- 39.9% of gender diverse people aged 18 and over reported they had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.
- 72.5% of gender diverse people aged 14 to 25 reported they had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.
- Gender diverse people aged 18 and over reported high or very high levels of psychological distress as follows: 75.8% of trans men, 65.6% of trans women and 74.9% of non-binary participants.
- Gender diverse people aged 16 and over are nearly four times more likely to have experienced sexual violence or coercion compared to the general population.
The full report includes further breakdowns of statistics by gender identity, intersectionality (i.e. the ways in which different aspects of a person’s identity (race, disability, geographical location etc) can expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation and use of crisis support services.
You can read the full report here
Click here for a fact sheet on understanding suicide amongst transgender and gender diverse people.