Transgender adolescents (TGAs) have increased odds of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse compared with heterosexual cisgender adoles- cents (CGAs), according to a study published in Pediatrics. Researchers examined self-report- ed childhood abuse among TGAs compared with CGAs in a cross-sectional study involving 1,836 adolescents aged 14-18 (1,055 TGAs, 340 heterosexual CGAs, and 433 sexual-minority CGAs). Gender assigned at birth and current gender identity were reported. The researchers found that 73%, 39%, and 19% of TGAs reported psychological abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, respectively. TGAs had high- er odds of psychological abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse compared with heterosex- ual CGAs (odds ratios, 1.84, 1.61, and 2.04, respectively). Compared with CGAs, transgender males and nonbinary adolescents assigned female at birth had increased odds of reporting psychological abuse. “Clinicians should be aware that higher levels of abuse could contrib- ute to disproportionate mental health problems among TGAs, and future research should ex- amine how childhood abuse contributes to higher levels of mental health problems among TGAs over time,” the authors wrote.
