Transgender teens risk turning to alcohol to cope with extra stress
06 June, 2021
- A 2-year study of transgender or gender minority (GM) adolescents, who have a different gender identity than the one these were designated at birth, shows that many use alcohol to handle GM-related stress.
- Internalized cissexism possessed associations with an elevated risk of substance use in response to pressure, whereas resilience and gender-related pride possessed associations with a lesser risk.
- Family and community support protected against alcohol work with at low degrees of stress, but not at high levels.
- The researchers conclude that future interventions with GM youth should try to reduce internalized cissexism and strengthen resilience, gender-related pride, and family functioning.
Transgender people have a different gender identity to the sex these were assigned at birth, in contrast to cisgender people, who are comfortable with their assigned gender.
A recent study discovered that transgender and nonbinary adolescents face even more emotional distress and bullying and also have fewer protective elements, such as family connectedness, compared with their cisgender peers.
Another study found that the prevalence of substance use among these GM youth can be up to 4 times greater than in cisgender youth.
These findings suggest that GM adolescents use drugs, such as alcohol, to cope with the additional stressors they encounter within their everyday lives.
However, the study to day has been cross-sectional (centered on a single moment in time), so that it is harder to establish the main causes of substance use.
A newly published research, which surveyed the chemical use of 30 GM adolescents every six months over a period of 2 years, supports the look at that they used alcohol, specifically, to handle GM-related stresses.
Scientists in Boston Children’s Medical center, Harvard Medical University, and the Harvard T. H. Chan College of Public Wellness, all in Boston, MA, conducted the study. The results appear in PLOS ONE.
Risk elements and protective factors
Their study examined how stressors, such as for example victimization, and related risk factors, namely internalized cissexism, depressive symptoms, and anxiety damaged substance use.
It also investigated potentially protective factors, such as for example resilience, gender-related pride, friends and family functioning, and community support.
All of the subjects, who were aged 13-17 years, were portion of a community-based research study named the Trans Teen and Family group Narratives Project.
Participants identified as:
- transfeminine (11)
- transmasculine (15)
- nonbinary (4)
In the beginning of the study, 17% reported using chemicals, including tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. But by the end, 56% of individuals claimed that these were using among these.
Higher exposure to GM-related stress significantly increased the likelihood these adolescents would use alcohol, but not tobacco or marijuana.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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