Mental health studies lump transgender teens under one umbrella — and miss clues to help them in the process
Many mental health studies don't ask about gender identity. Researchers say adding those questions is critical to unraveling heath disparities among transgender and non-binary teens.
The disparities are staggering: A growing body of research suggests that transgender teens experience suicidal thoughts and attempt to take their own lives far more often than their cisgender peers.
But in many studies and surveys on adolescent mental health, transgender teens are lumped together in one big group. A transgender teen boy is treated the same, in terms of the research, as a non-binary teen who was assigned male sex at birth, or as a transgender girl. Many other studies and surveys don’t ask about gender identity at all.
A handful of researchers are pushing to change that by making
