IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0228765.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The health status of transgender and gender nonbinary adults in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Ethan C Cicero
  • Sari L Reisner
  • Elizabeth I Merwin
  • Janice C Humphreys
  • Susan G Silva

Abstract

The goal of this exploratory study was to delineate health differences among transgender subpopulations (transgender women/TW, transgender men/TM, gender nonbinary/GNB adults). 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data were analyzed to compare the health of three groups (TW:N = 369; TM:N = 239; GNB:N = 156). Logistic regression and adjusted odds ratios were used to determine whether health outcomes (fair/poor health, frequent physical and mental unhealthy days, chronic health conditions, and health problems/impairments) are related to group and its interaction with personal characteristics and socioeconomic position. Group was a significant predictor of fair/poor health and frequent mental unhealthy days, revealing significant health differences between the transgender groups. The odds of poor/fair health were approximately 2.5 times higher in TM and GNB adults relative to TW. The odds of frequent mental unhealthy days for TM were approximately 1.5–2 times greater than TW and GNB adults. Among those with health insurance, the odds of fair/poor health for GNB adults was more than 1.5–2 times higher that of TM and TW. Among those without health insurance, TM had over 7 times greater odds of fair/poor health than TW. This study underscores the importance of classifying and examining the health of the transgender population as unique subpopulations, as notable health differences were discovered. TM and GNB adults have significant health concerns, requiring the attention of clinical interventions aimed at promoting health and preventing illness.

Suggested Citation

  • Ethan C Cicero & Sari L Reisner & Elizabeth I Merwin & Janice C Humphreys & Susan G Silva, 2020. "The health status of transgender and gender nonbinary adults in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0228765
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228765
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0228765
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0228765&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0228765?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Riley, N.C. & Blosnich, J.R. & Bear, T.M. & Reisner, S.L., 2017. "Vocal timbre and the classification of respondent sex in US phone-based surveys," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(8), pages 1290-1294.
    2. Blosnich, J.R. & Marsiglio, M.C. & Gao, S. & Gordon, A.J. & Shipherd, J.C. & Kauth, M. & Brown, G.R. & Fine, M.J., 2016. "Mental health of transgender veterans in US States with and without discrimination and hate crime legal protection," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(3), pages 534-540.
    3. Danya Lagos, 2018. "Looking at Population Health Beyond “Male” and “Female”: Implications of Transgender Identity and Gender Nonconformity for Population Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2097-2117, December.
    4. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303571_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Hatzenbuehler, M.L. & Phelan, J.C. & Link, B.G., 2013. "Stigma as a fundamental cause of population health inequalities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 813-821.
    6. Brennan, J. & Kuhns, L.M. & Johnson, A.K. & Belzer, M. & Wilson, E.C. & Garofalo, R., 2012. "Syndemic theory and HIV-related risk among young transgender women: The role of multiple, co-occurring health problems and social marginalization," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(9), pages 1751-1757.
    7. Conron, K.J. & Scott, G. & Stowell, G.S. & Landers, S.J., 2012. "Transgender health in massachusetts: Results from a household probability sample of adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(1), pages 118-122.
    8. Wilper, A.P. & Woolhandler, S. & Lasser, K.E. & McCormick, D. & Bor, D.H. & Himmelstein, D.U., 2009. "Health insurance and mortality in US adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(12), pages 2289-2295.
    9. Bockting, W.O. & Miner, M.H. & Swinburne Romine, R.E. & Hamilton, A. & Coleman, E., 2013. "Stigma, mental health, and resilience in an online sample of the US transgender population," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 943-951.
    10. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303834_3 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Crissman, H.P. & Berger, M.B. & Graham, L.F. & Dalton, V.K., 2017. "Transgender demographics: A household probability sample of US adults, 2014," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(2), pages 213-215.
    12. White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L. & Pachankis, John E., 2015. "Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 222-231.
    13. Cruz, Taylor M., 2014. "Assessing access to care for transgender and gender nonconforming people: A consideration of diversity in combating discrimination," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 65-73.
    14. Hatzenbuehler, M.L. & McLaughlin, K.A. & Keyes, K.M. & Hasin, D.S., 2010. "The impact of institutional discrimination on psychiatric disorders in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: A prospective study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(3), pages 452-459.
    15. Hatzenbuehler, M.L. & Keyes, K.M. & Hasin, D.S., 2009. "State-level policies and psychiatric morbidity in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(12), pages 2275-2281.
    16. Conron, K.J. & Landers, S.J. & Reisner, S.L. & Sell, R.L., 2014. "Sex and gender in the US health surveillance system: A call to action," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(6), pages 970-976.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Campbell, Travis & Rodgers, Yana van der Meulen, 2023. "Conversion therapy, suicidality, and running away: An analysis of transgender youth in the U.S," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Everhart, Avery R. & Ferguson, Laura & Wilson, John P., 2022. "Construction and validation of a spatial database of providers of transgender hormone therapy in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L. & Pachankis, John E., 2015. "Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 222-231.
    2. Danya Lagos, 2018. "Looking at Population Health Beyond “Male” and “Female”: Implications of Transgender Identity and Gender Nonconformity for Population Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2097-2117, December.
    3. King, Wesley M. & Hughto, Jaclyn M.W. & Operario, Don, 2020. "Transgender stigma: A critical scoping review of definitions, domains, and measures used in empirical research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    4. Lewis, Tom & Doyle, David Matthew & Barreto, Manuela & Jackson, Debby, 2021. "Social relationship experiences of transgender people and their relational partners: A meta-synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    5. Hatzenbuehler, Mark L. & Prins, Seth J. & Flake, Morgan & Philbin, Morgan & Frazer, M. Somjen & Hagen, Daniel & Hirsch, Jennifer, 2017. "Immigration policies and mental health morbidity among Latinos: A state-level analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 169-178.
    6. María Eugenia Socías & Brandon D L Marshall & Inés Arístegui & Virginia Zalazar & Marcela Romero & Omar Sued & Thomas Kerr, 2014. "Towards Full Citizenship: Correlates of Engagement with the Gender Identity Law among Transwomen in Argentina," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-6, August.
    7. Hatzenbuehler, Mark L. & Bellatorre, Anna & Lee, Yeonjin & Finch, Brian K. & Muennig, Peter & Fiscella, Kevin, 2014. "Structural stigma and all-cause mortality in sexual minority populations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 33-41.
    8. Paine, Emily Allen, 2018. "Embodied disruption: “Sorting out” gender and nonconformity in the doctor's office," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 352-358.
    9. Melissa M. Barnhill & Joseph G. L. Lee & Ann P. Rafferty, 2017. "Health Inequities among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults in North Carolina, 2011–2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-10, July.
    10. Bhattacharya, Shamayeta & Ghosh, Debarchana, 2020. "Studying physical and mental health status among hijra, kothi and transgender community in Kolkata, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    11. Luca Fumarco & Benjamin Harrell & Patrick Button & David Schwegman & E Dils, 2020. "Gender Identity, Race, and Ethnicity-based Discrimination in Access to Mental Health Care: Evidence from an Audit Correspondence Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 28164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Gordon, Allegra R. & Austin, S. Bryn & Krieger, Nancy & White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L., 2016. "“I have to constantly prove to myself, to people, that I fit the bill”: Perspectives on weight and shape control behaviors among low-income, ethnically diverse young transgender women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 141-149.
    13. Cristiano Scandurra & Vincenzo Bochicchio & Anna Lisa Amodeo & Concetta Esposito & Paolo Valerio & Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Dario Bacchini & Roberto Vitelli, 2018. "Internalized Transphobia, Resilience, and Mental Health: Applying the Psychological Mediation Framework to Italian Transgender Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, March.
    14. Hannah Van Borm & Marlot Dhoop & Allien Van Acker & Stijn Baert, 2020. "What does someone's gender identity signal to employers?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 753-777, March.
    15. Bethany G. Everett & Jarron Saint Onge & Stefanie Mollborn, 2016. "Effects of Minority Status and Perceived Discrimination on Mental Health," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(4), pages 445-469, August.
    16. Arjee Restar & E. J. Dusic & Henri Garrison-Desany & Elle Lett & Avery Everhart & Kellan E. Baker & Ayden I. Scheim & S. Wilson Beckham & Sari Reisner & Adam J. Rose & Matthew J. Mimiaga & Asa Radix &, 2022. "Gender affirming hormone therapy dosing behaviors among transgender and nonbinary adults," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Marius Baranauskas & Ingrida Kupčiūnaitė & Rimantas Stukas, 2022. "Psychoactive Substance Effect on Mental Health and Well-Being Focusing on Student-Aged Lithuanian Cohort of Sexual Minorities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    18. Pachankis, John E. & Hatzenbuehler, Mark L. & Starks, Tyrel J., 2014. "The influence of structural stigma and rejection sensitivity on young sexual minority men's daily tobacco and alcohol use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 67-75.
    19. Lukachko, Alicia & Hatzenbuehler, Mark L. & Keyes, Katherine M., 2014. "Structural racism and myocardial infarction in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 42-50.
    20. Edward McCann & Michael Brown, 2017. "Discrimination and resilience and the needs of people who identify as Transgender: A narrative review of quantitative research studies," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(23-24), pages 4080-4093, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0228765. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.