Among teens, transgender men are most likely to commit suicide, study finds

A new study reveals that sexual identity strongly influences the likelihood that a teenager is trying to commit suicide.

Almost 14% of adolescents who participated in a survey reported attempting suicide, with transgender teens reporting the highest rates of suicide attempts. According to the study published in the journal Pediatrics Tuesday, more than half of women (50.8%) said they had attempted suicide.

Russell B. Toomey, lead author of the study and Associate Professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona, wrote in an email.

For most people, their feeling of being a man or a woman is as indicated on their birth certificate, he said. However, "a lower proportion of the population identifies as transgender, which includes people whose internal sense of gender identity" is not consistent with their gender at birth.

"Discrimination, victimization and rejection"

The new study is based on data from the Student Life Profiles: Attitudes and Behaviors survey conducted by the Search Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis focused on youth issues. The survey includes self-reported responses from 120,617 people aged 11 to 19, beginning in June 2012 and ending in May 2015.

The sample included 202 adolescents (0.2%) reporting being male-to-female transgender, 175 (0.1%) were transgender female to male, and 344 (0.3%) were not exclusively transgender men or women. About 0.9% of adolescents surveyed (1,052) reported having questioned or not being certain of their gender identity. In addition, 50.6% (60,973) of the women were identified as women and 48% (57,871) of the men were identified as men. (The researchers rounded up the publication percentages.)

Among the questions from the survey: "Have you ever tried to kill yourself?

More than 14% (17,007 respondents) said they had, which corresponds to other research, wrote Toomey and his colleagues.

In addition to high rates of suicide attempts among transgender transgender women, 41.8% of adolescents who reported being neither men nor women reported attempting suicide; The study reveals that 29.9% of transgender men, 27.9% of teens surveyed, 17.6% of women identified as women and 9.8% of men who reported being men responded in the same way .

Toomey believes that "research is absolutely necessary" to understand why suicide attempts are highest among transmasculine youth (young women and men) (neither men nor women).

What we do know is that transgender teens are more likely to be "victims of discrimination, victimization and rejection, all of which are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior", did he declare. "Other research suggests that lack of connection and belonging, as well as feeling of being a burden to society, are key predictors of suicidal behavior."

Family support is a game changer, said Toomey: When transgender youth experience this support, "they are more likely to develop and exhibit similar levels of psychological functioning" than their peers.

Impulsivity and inhibition

Heather Huszti, chief psychologist at Children's Hospital in Orange County, California, said the number of people with increased stigma or misunderstanding was generally higher.

Feeling marginalized, stigmatized and isolated "also drives many children to this level of hopelessness and helplessness, which is one of the factors that can fuel depression and addiction," said Huszti, who did not participate in the new study. She added that "substance use and depression together can also increase the risk of suicide."

Huszti said that suicide was "the second leading cause of death" among adolescents.

Why are teenagers so vulnerable?

"That's the million dollar question because we're seeing these rates go up," Huszti said.

"They are very impulsive," she said. "For teenagers, in particular, a high percentage – I think it's 50% to 60% – makes an attempt within 30 minutes after the idea. Their brain is not developed enough.

Users of substances "may be a little more likely to be uninhibited," she said. The inability to access resources is another key factor. Although adults may simply choose to consult a counselor, "as a teenager, you may need to tell your parents," I have to go see a therapist. "

"It's probably also somewhat hormonal," says Huszti, explaining that a jump in the number of women with depression occurs "by the time they reach puberty and have a higher risk of depression than men." ".

Carl Tishler, an associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University, said the study's finding that the rate of suicide attempts among transgender youth was relatively high "is confusing."

"These are young people who are not clear who they are outside of who they are inside," said Tishler, who did not participate in the research. "As professionals, parents and teachers and coaches, we need to pay special attention to these young people."