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Journal ArticleDOI

Parental Support and Mental Health Among Transgender Adolescents

TL;DR: Parental support is associated with higher quality of life and is protective against depression in transgender adolescents, and interventions that promote parental support may significantly affect the mental health of transgender youth.
About: This article is published in Journal of Adolescent Health.The article was published on 2013-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 380 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Sexual minority & Transgender.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Stigma prevention and coping interventions hold promise for reducing stigma and its adverse health-related effects in transgender populations, and multi-level interventions to prevent stigma towards transgender people are warranted.

905 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There are sufficient data highlighting the unique biological, behavioural, social, and structural contextual factors surrounding health risks and resiliencies for transgender people, and the need to explicitly consider sex and gender pathways in epidemiological research and public health surveillance more broadly.

828 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Transgender children who have socially transitioned, that is, who identify as the gender “opposite” their natal sex and are supported to live openly as that gender, are increasingly visible in society, yet we know nothing about their mental health. Previous work with children with gender identity disorder (GID; now termed gender dysphoria) has found remarkably high rates of anxiety and depression in these children. Here we examine, for the first time, mental health in a sample of socially transitioned transgender children. METHODS: A community-based national sample of transgender, prepubescent children ( n = 73, aged 3–12 years), along with control groups of nontransgender children in the same age range ( n = 73 age- and gender-matched community controls; n = 49 sibling of transgender participants), were recruited as part of the TransYouth Project. Parents completed anxiety and depression measures. RESULTS: Transgender children showed no elevations in depression and slightly elevated anxiety relative to population averages. They did not differ from the control groups on depression symptoms and had only marginally higher anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group. Especially striking is the comparison with reports of children with GID; socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex.

589 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Transgender youth were found to have a disparity in negative mental health outcomes compared with cisgender youth, with equally high burden in FTM and MTF patients.

476 citations


Cites background or result from "Parental Support and Mental Health ..."

  • ...First, in a transgender patient population not defined solely by GID and presenting at a community-based youth clinic, this study found high prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, self-harm without lethal intent, and lifetime inpatient mental health care utilization, corroborating research in other clinical settings [7,14,15,24] and in convenience sample studies [6,9,10,25,26]....

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  • ...Perceived burdendthe extent to which transgender identity interferes with life activities or causes distressdwas positively correlated with greater depression and negatively associated with self-reported life satisfaction [7]....

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  • ...Only a small handful of studies using transgender youth patient data have been conducted in clinical settings in the United States, and most of these have occurred in multidisciplinary gender clinics [7,14,15]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This meta-analysis evaluated the relation between social support and depression in youth and compared the cumulative evidence for 2 theories that have been proposed to explain this association: the general benefits (GB) and stress-buffering (SB) models.
Abstract: This meta-analysis evaluated the relation between social support and depression in youth and compared the cumulative evidence for 2 theories that have been proposed to explain this association: the general benefits (GB; also known as main effects) and stress-buffering (SB) models. The study included 341 articles (19% unpublished) gathered through a search in PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ERIC, and ProQuest, and a hand search of 11 relevant journals. Using a random effects model, the overall effect size based on k = 341 studies and N = 273,149 participants was r = .26 (95% CI [.24, .28]), with robust support for the GB model and support for the SB model among medically ill youth. Stress-buffering analyses suggest that different stressful contexts may not allow youth to fully draw on the benefits of social support, and we propose value in seeking to better understand both stress-buffering (effects of social support are enhanced) and reverse stress-buffering (effects of social support are dampened) processes. Key findings regarding other moderators include a different pattern of effect sizes across various sources of support. In addition, gender differences were largely absent from this study, suggesting that social support may be a more critical resource for boys than is typically acknowledged. Results also demonstrated the importance of using instruments with adequate psychometric support, with careful consideration of methodological and conceptual issues. Building upon these collective findings, we provide recommendations for theory and practice, as well as recommendations for addressing limitations in the extant literature to guide future investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record

450 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) as discussed by the authors is a self-report measure of subjectively assessed social support, which has good internal and test-retest reliability as well as moderate construct validity.
Abstract: The development of a self-report measure of subjectively assessed social support, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), is described. Subjects included 136 female and 139 male university undergraduates. Three subscales, each addressing a different source of support, were identified and found to have strong factorial validity: (a) Family, (b) Friends, and (c) Significant Other. In addition, the research demonstrated that the MSPSS has good internal and test-retest reliability as well as moderate construct validity. As predicted, high levels of perceived social support were associated with low levels of depression and anxiety symptomatology as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Gender differences with respect to the MSPSS are also presented. The value of the MSPSS as a research instrument is discussed, along with implications for future research.

8,983 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
10 Sep 1997-JAMA
TL;DR: Family and school contexts as well as individual characteristics are associated with health and risky behaviors in adolescents, and the results should assist health and social service providers, educators, and others in taking the first steps to diminish risk factors and enhance protective factors for young people.
Abstract: Context. —The main threats to adolescents' health are the risk behaviors they choose. How their social context shapes their behaviors is poorly understood. Objective. —To identify risk and protective factors at the family, school, and individual levels as they relate to 4 domains of adolescent health and morbidity: emotional health, violence, substance use, and sexuality. Design. —Cross-sectional analysis of interview data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Participants. —A total of 12118 adolescents in grades 7 through 12 drawn from an initial national school survey of 90118 adolescents from 80 high schools plus their feeder middle schools. Setting. —The interview was completed in the subject's home. Main Outcome Measures. —Eight areas were assessed: emotional distress; suicidal thoughts and behaviors; violence; use of 3 substances (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana); and 2 types of sexual behaviors (age of sexual debut and pregnancy history). Independent variables included measures of family context, school context, and individual characteristics. Results. —Parent-family connectedness and perceived school connectedness were protective against every health risk behavior measure except history of pregnancy. Conversely, ease of access to guns at home was associated with suicidality (grades 9-12: P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P Conclusions. —Family and school contexts as well as individual characteristics are associated with health and risky behaviors in adolescents. The results should assist health and social service providers, educators, and others in taking the first steps to diminish risk factors and enhance protective factors for our young people.

3,856 citations


"Parental Support and Mental Health ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Whereas family support is generally understood to have a protective role in the lives of adolescents [10], parents of transgender youth may have a crucial opportunity to offset the mental health impact of societal harassment and discrimination their children receive....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that sexual minority status is a key risk factor for suicide among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth; however, it has not been studied among transgender youth.
Abstract: Sexual minority status is a key risk factor for suicide among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth; however, it has not been studied among transgender youth. Fifty-five transgender youth reported on their life-threatening behaviors. Nearly half of the sample reported having seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter reported suicide attempts. Factors significantly related to having made a suicide attempt included suicidal ideation related to transgender identity; experiences of past parental verbal and physical abuse; and lower body esteem, especially weight satisfaction and thoughts of how others evaluate the youths' bodies. Sexual minority status is a key risk factor for life-threatening behaviors among transgender youth.

606 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: If protective factors were enhanced among gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) youth, suicide in this population is expected to be considerably lower and should be targeted in interventions.

507 citations


"Parental Support and Mental Health ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Parental support has been shown to protect against mental health problems in sexual minority adolescents [5] and has been associated with more consistent condom use in a study of transgender female youth [6]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: After establishment of a multidisciplinary gender clinic, the gender identity disorder population increased fourfold and complex clinical presentations required additional mental health support as the patient population grew.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To describe the patients with gender identity disorder referred to a pediatric medical center. We identify changes in patients after creation of the multidisciplinary Gender Management Service by expanding the Disorders of Sex Development clinic to include transgender patients. METHODS: Data gathered on 97 consecutive patients RESULTS: Genotypic male:female ratio was 43:54 (0.8:1); there was a slight preponderance of female patients but not significant from 1:1. Age of presentation was 14.8 ± 3.4 years (mean ± SD) without sex difference ( P = .11). Tanner stage at presentation was 4.1 ± 1.4 for genotypic female patients and 3.6 ± 1.5 for genotypic male patients ( P = .02). Age at start of medical treatment was 15.6 ± 2.8 years. Forty-three patients (44.3%) presented with significant psychiatric history, including 20 reporting self-mutilation (20.6%) and suicide attempts (9.3%). CONCLUSIONS: After establishment of a multidisciplinary gender clinic, the gender identity disorder population increased fourfold. Complex clinical presentations required additional mental health support as the patient population grew. Mean age and Tanner Stage were too advanced for pubertal suppressive therapy to be an affordable option for most patients. Two-thirds of patients were started on cross-sex hormone therapy. Greater awareness of the benefit of early medical intervention is needed. Psychological and physical effects of pubertal suppression and/or cross-sex hormones in our patients require further investigation.

334 citations