Association between Gender Minority Status and Mental Health in High School Students

James White*, Laurence Moore, Rebecca Cannings-John, Jemma Hawkins, Chris Bonell, Matt Hickman, Stanley Zammit, Linda Adara

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: Adolescence is a phase when young people begin to explore their gender identity. Adolescents who identify as a gender minority are vulnerable to experiencing mental health problems due to stigmatization of their identity.

Methods: A population-wide study compared gender minority and cisgender students (aged 13-14) self-reported symptoms of probable depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder, and auditory hallucinations, including the distress and frequency of hallucinations.

Results: Gender minority students compared to cisgender students had four times the odds of reporting a probable depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, auditory hallucinations, but not conduct disorder. Of those who reported a hallucination, gender minority students were more likely to report hearing them daily but were no more likely to find them distressing.

Conclusions: Gender minority students experience a disproportionate burden of mental health problems. Services and programming should be adapted to better support gender minority high school students.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)811-814
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Adolescent Health
Volume72
Issue number5
Early online date19 Jan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 19 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research program, grant number NIHR PHR 17/97/02; The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Joint funding from the British Heart Foundation , Cancer Research UK , Economic and Social Research Council , Medical Research Council , The Welsh Government and The Wellcome Trust , under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, and the Welsh Government through Health and Care Research Wales (MR/KO232331/1); the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/1) and the Chief Scientist Office (SPHSU16). S.Z. is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The sponsor had no role in the design, or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine

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