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. 2024 Nov;8(11):2096-2106.
doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01979-5. Epub 2024 Sep 26.

State-level anti-transgender laws increase past-year suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people in the USA

Wilson Y Lee  1 , J Nicholas Hobbs  1 , Steven Hobaica  1 , Jonah P DeChants  1 , Myeshia N Price  1 , Ronita Nath  2
Affiliations

State-level anti-transgender laws increase past-year suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people in the USA

Wilson Y Lee et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

From 2018 to 2022, 48 anti-transgender laws (that is, laws that restrict the rights of transgender and non-binary people) were enacted in the USA across 19 different state governments. In this study, we estimated the causal impact of state-level anti-transgender laws on suicide risk among transgender and non-binary (TGNB) young people aged 13-17 (n = 35,196) and aged 13-24 (n = 61,240) using a difference-in-differences research design. We found minimal evidence of an anticipatory effect in the time periods leading up to the enactment of the laws. However, starting in the first year after anti-transgender laws were enacted, there were statistically significant increases in rates of past-year suicide attempts among TGNB young people ages 13-17 in states that enacted anti-transgender laws, relative to states that did not, and for all TGNB young people beginning in the second year. Enacting state-level anti-transgender laws increased incidents of past-year suicide attempts among TGNB young people by 7-72%. Our findings highlight the need to consider the mental health impact of recent anti-transgender laws and to advance protective policies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests The authors are current or former employees of The Trevor Project, which is a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status and Federal EIN 95-4681287. The Trevor Project provides crisis services for LGBTQ+ young people, along with research, education, public awareness and advocacy.

References

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    1. Mapping attacks on LGBTQ rights in U.S. state legislatures. American Civil Liberties Union https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights (2023).
    1. LGBTQ legislation heatmap. The Trevor Project https://www.thetrevorproject.org/advocacy/ (2023).
    1. Dhanani, L. Y. & Totton, R. R. Have you heard the news? the effects of exposure to news about recent transgender legislation on transgender youth and young adults. Sex. Res. Soc. Policy 20, 1345–1359 (2023).
    1. Madrigal-Borloz, V. Visit to the United States of America Report of the Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (United Nations General Assembly, 2024).

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