Do transgender men have equal access to health care and engagement in preventive health behaviors compared to cisgender adults?

ABSTRACT

Using 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, this study investigates whether transgender men have equal access to health care and engagement in preventive health behaviors compared to cisgender adults in the U.S. and whether race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and rural residence moderate these relationships. Once controlling for sociodemographic factors, we do not find differences for transgender men. Rural transgender men were less likely to have a personal doctor or receive a blood cholesterol screening than their urban peers; transgender men with less education were more likely to have a cholesterol screening. We detail implications for social workers within health care.

KEYWORDS:

• FTM
• health-care access
• preventive health
• rural
• transgender men

Notes

^1. Latinx is a gender-neutral term used instead of the masculine term Latino that is meant to encompass all people of Latin American descent with gender identities across the gender spectrum, including those who are transgender or gender nonconforming.