Transgender college students’ mental health: Comparing transgender students to their cisgender peers

Abstract

Objective: Although researchers in higher education have focused more attention on transgender individuals, gaps remain, particularly related to aspects of health and wellness. Participants: Participants were a nationally representative sample of college students. Methods:Anova and follow up post hoc tests were utilized to examine measures of transgender college students’ mental health in comparison to their cisgender peers who identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual. Results: Findings indicate that transgender students were more likely to report physically harming themselves or attempt suicide, but responded similarly to peers on other measures. Conclusions: Individuals who work with transgender college students can benefit from this reserach by understanding how to support and avoid marginalizing these students.

Keywords:

• Transgender
• mental health
• identity
• LGBTQ+
• college students

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge and thank the ACHA for access to the NCHA II Spring 2011 data set for the analysis reported in this study.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the University of North Florida.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes

1 We use the term trans* as an umbrella term for individuals whose sex assigned at birth (biological sex) does not align with their preferred gender identity. While similar to transgender, trans* does not minimize individuals to one dimension of identity (i.e., gender) and is inclusive of other non-cisgender identities (e.g., genderqueer, agender).