Transgender or non-binary adolescents are more likely than cisgender adolescents to have suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide, warns a study published in Canadian Medical Association Journal of researchers at the University of Ottawa.
More than half of transgender youth said they had seriously considered suicide in the 12 months prior to the survey.
In total, 14% of teens reported having had suicidal thoughts in the past year, and 6.8% of them admitted to trying to end their lives. Transgender youth were five times more likely to think about suicide and 7.6 times more likely to act than cisgender youth (those who identified with the gender assigned to them at birth).
This is very worryingsaid the study’s author Dr. Ian Colman of the School of Epidemiology and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ottawa. Even as the stigma decreases, even as we see the development of society in this field, it seems that our youth continue to suffer from poverty.
The data studied by Drs. Colman and his colleagues came from the Canadian Child and Youth Health Survey published by Statistics Canada in 2019. Their sample consisted of 6,800 young people between the ages of 15 and 17, most of whom (99.4%) were identified as cisgender and 0.6% as transgender.
The majority (78.6%) of survey participants were heterosexual, 14.7% were attracted to more than one gender, 4.3% were unsure of their attraction, 1.6% were female and 0.8% of men were attracted to male.
One in five young people belongs to a sexual or gender minoritydirected by Dr. Colman. So this is not a small problem.
If we consider that more than half of transgender youth have recently considered ending their lives, it means that even if we know the problem and even if we try to help them, it is not enough and we must make more.He added.
The survey also found a higher proportion than previous studies of teens reporting being attracted to more than one gender. Young people in this group are more than twice as likely than others to have suicidal thoughts.
Adolescence can be a time of great turmoil, and more so for transgender youth, and even those who can rely on the support of those around them will not be completely immune to turmoil.recollection of Dr. Colman. It does not count those who do not have such support and must alone survive the storm.
Thus, the researchers say, the link between the idea of suicide, suicide attempts and belonging to a sexual or minority gender is partly explained by the bullying or cyberbullying to which these young people undergo.
The conclusions of the Ontario study are consistent with the results of a survey in Quebec, the results of which were released earlier this year, and which indicated that young people reporting having different gender identities may be up to three times more likely than their peers to show disturbing signs for their mental health.
These young people, for example, are more likely than others to feel that their mental health is fair where bad; experience moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety or depression; or of the recently thought that it would be better for their lives to end.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canada among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24.
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Source: Radio-Canada
