Exploring Transgender and Gender Diverse Young Adult Tobacco Use

ABSTRACT

Aside from prevalence estimates and comparisons to heterosexual and presumed cisgender (i.e., not transgender) samples, little is known about transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adult tobacco use. This study explored reasons and contexts TGD young adults used a variety of tobacco products through 25 one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews in 2018. Thematic analysis yielded four themes: (1) smoking in response to anxiety, depression, or stress, (2) social smoking, (3) accepting smoking-related norms, and (4) appealing aspects of tobacco. The first three themes contained elements specifically tied to TGD identity; the final theme related to perceptions of tobacco unrelated to identity. Findings suggest reasons for smoking that are unique to TGD young adults, who frequently reported smoking cigarettes as a coping response to an amalgam of stressors. Accounting for unique stressors related to TGD identity will assist in developing culturally relevant interventions to reduce the disproportionate tobacco burden in TGD communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender
• tobacco use
• young adults
• LGBT
• minority stress

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by pilot funds from grant number [1 P50 CA180906] from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). The first author is supported by grant number [T32HL140290] from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, this research has received support from the grant [P2CHD042849], awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The preparation and content of this manuscript is solely the product and responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the NIH or the FDA.