Authors: Hill A.O., Lyons A., Jones J., McGowan I., Carman M., Parsons M., Power J., Bourne A.
Date of publication: 2021
Publisher: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia)
Summary: In this Australian study 6,418 LGBTQA+ young people aged between 14 and 21 years took part in a national survey investigating their health and wellbeing. Amongst gender diverse participants, 90% had experienced high or very high psychological distress in the previous four weeks, 54% had self-harmed, 71% had thought about suicide and 14% had attempted suicide in the preceding 12 months. 38% of all participants reported having attempted suicide at some point in their life.
When reporting on affirming their gender identity and daily challenges:
- Less than three-quarters (74.8%) of trans and gender diverse participants had ever affirmed their gender identity socially, compared to the 97.4% that reported ever wanting to affirm their gender identity socially.
- One-fifth (22.5%) of trans and gender diverse participants had ever affirmed their gender identity legally, compared to the 75.2% that reported ever wanting to affirm their gender identity socially.
- Less than one-quarter (29.4%) of trans and gender diverse participants had ever affirmed their gender identity medically, compared to the 72.3% that reported ever wanting to affirm their gender identity medically.
- Over seven-tenths (71.7%) of all participants had faced issues relating to toilet access in the past 12 months.
- Over three-fifths (61.4%) of participants avoided using the toilets, 59.5% felt uncomfortable or unsafe accessing toilets, and more than one-third (38.5%) had limited how much they ate or drank to avoid having to go to the toilet in the past 12 months.
- The vast majority (86.8%) of participants had been misgendered by others in the past 12 months.
- Most (67.9%) participants reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe in their educational setting because of their gender or sexual identity.
The report concludes that despite legal and social changes and advances, a great many LGBTQA+ young people experience challenges in their everyday life, often as a consequence of, or associated with, experiences of stigma, discrimination and violence.
You can read the full report here