MONTREAL –
Transsexual and non-binary teenagers are at much greater risk than their cisgender peers of having suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts, warns a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Ottawa and published on Monday, found that more than half of transgender teenagers said they were seriously considering suicide in the 12 months leading up to the study.
A total of 14% of adolescents said they had committed suicide in the previous year, while 6.8% said they had tried to take their own lives. Transgender youth were five times more likely to think about suicide and 7.6 times more likely to have attempted suicide than young people who are cisgender, people whose gender identity matches their gender at birth.
“This is very worrying,” said Dr. Ian Coleman, author of the study, based at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa School of Medicine. “Although the stigma is diminishing, although we are seeing social progress in this area, it seems that our teenagers are still experiencing difficulties.”
The data, studied by Coleman and colleagues, comes from the Canadian Child and Youth Health Survey published by Statistics Canada in 2019. Their sample consisted of 6,800 adolescents aged 15 to 17, the vast majority of whom (99, 4%) were identified as cisgender and 0.6% as transsexual.
The majority (78.6 percent) of the participants in the study identified themselves as heterosexual, 14.7 percent said they were attracted to more than one sex, and 4.3 percent were unsure of their attraction. The survey shows that 1.6% of respondents are young women who say they are attracted to the same sex, while 0.8% of respondents are boys who say they are attracted to boys.
“One in five teenagers is a sexual or gender minority,” Coleman said, adding that the study found that mental health problems were not a small problem.
“When you think that more than half of young transgender people have recently considered ending their lives, it means that even if we are aware of the problem and even try to help them, it is not enough and we need to do more. to try to provide safe spaces for these young people, because they are going through what is difficult for everyone, “he said.
Adolescence can be a turbulent time, especially for young transgender people, and even those who can count on the support of those around them will not be fully immune to the shocks, Coleman said. It is even more difficult, he said, for young people who do not have such support and have to deal with the storm on their own.
Researchers say the link between contemplating suicide or attempted suicide and belonging to a sexual or sexual minority is partly explained by the harassment or cyberbullying to which these young people are subjected.
The results of the Ontario study are in line with those of the Quebec study, which was published earlier this year and found that young people who reported having a “different gender identity” were up to three times more likely to their peers to show anxiety. signs of mental health problems.
These young people, for example, were much more likely than others to perceive their mental health as “fair” or “bad”; experience moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety or depression; or have recently decided that it would be better to end their lives.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canada among adolescents and young people aged 15 to 24.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2022.
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