“There is a paywall to my happiness”: the influence of socioeconomic determinants on transgender and gender diverse young adults’ experiences with eating disorders

ABSTRACT

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young adults experience elevated risk for eating disorders (ED), partially due to cissexist discrimination and victimization; less is understood about how socioeconomic determinants contribute to their ED risk. Qualitative data collected from 66 TGD young adults (18–30 years old; 29% self-identified as transgender women, 29% as transgender men, 39% as nonbinary people, and 3% as another gender identity (e.g., māhū)) in eight asynchronous online focus groups explored how socioeconomic determinants in conjunction with other dimensions of identity and lived experience shape disordered eating behavior (DEB) and ED risk. Participants described how economic barriers—including poverty and dependency on others (e.g. parents for health insurance)—and challenges produced by insurance and healthcare systems impeded healthcare access to the detriment of their overall mental health and risk for ED. In addition, participants shared different ways they leveraged financial resources to cope with stress, sometimes in ways that impelled disordered eating behaviors. Finally, participants described how poverty, socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage, and classism compound other systems of oppression (e.g. racism, ableism, weight bias) to adversely impact their general health and ED risk.

Acknowledgments

This work was conducted with support from Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health Award UL 1TR002541) and financial contributions from Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers, or the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [UL 1TR002541].