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Access to gender-affirming care is linked to being at lower risk of depression and of attempting suicide in the past year by nearly 40 percent in transgender and nonbinary youth, according to a study by the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention organization for LGBTQI+ youth.
“This study emphasizes the potential benefits of gender-affirming hormone therapy as a mechanism to reduce feelings of gender dysphoria and minority stress among transgender and nonbinary youth — thereby working to improve mental health outcomes and prevent suicide,” Dr. Amy Green, VP of Research at The Trevor Project, said in a statement.
With more than 9,000 trans and gender-nonconforming youth participating, this is the first large-scale study to examine the relationships between hormone therapy and mental health risks among tgnc youth, re-affirming what trans folks have been saying all this while: access to gender-affirming care is life-saving.
“These data should serve as a call to action to resist blanket bans on gender-affirming medical care and to invest in more research on this topic so that youth and their families can make evidence-informed decisions regarding care,” Dr. Green said.
Other key findings from the published in the Journal of Adolescent Health and posted by the Trevor Project include:
🟠 Half of all transgender and nonbinary young people said they were not using gender-affirming hormone therapy but would like to, 36 percent weren’t interested, and 14 percent were already receiving it.
🟠 Young people receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy reported a lower likelihood of experiencing recent depression and considering suicide compared to those who wanted care but did not receive it.
🟠 Parent support for their child’s gender identity had a strong relationship with receipt of gender-affirming hormone therapy, with nearly 80 percent of those who received gender-affirming hormone therapy reporting they had at least one parent who supported their gender identity.
🟠 Youth of color had lower rates of accessing gender-affirming hormone therapy when they wanted it compared to white youth.