10/09/2024

Peer-reviewed study links state anti-trans laws with increased suicide among trans teens

Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio

States that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw suicide attempts by transgender and gender nonconforming teenagers increase by as much as 72% in the following years, according to a new study by The Trevor Project (Source: “More Trans Teens Attempted Suicide After States Passed Anti-Trans Laws, a Study Shows,” NPR, September 25, 2024).

The peer-reviewed study, recently published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, looked at survey data from young people in 19 states, comparing rates of suicide attempts before and after bans passed.

Over the past few years, dozens of states (including Ohio) have passed laws affecting how transgender young people do things like play sports, go to the bathroom at school, and access gender-affirming medical care.

“We found a very sharp and statistically significant rise in suicide attempt rates after enactment of the laws,” said Ronita Nath, vice president of research at The Trevor Project, which offers 24-7 crisis services to LGBTQ+ youth. A small rise was seen in a state soon after laws were enacted, followed by a sharper rise two or three years later. Among 13-17 year olds, two years after a law took effect, the likelihood of a past-year suicide attempt was 72% higher than it was before passage.

Ronita Nath notes a randomized control trial would not be possible for this kind of research, since you can’t randomly assign someone to live in one state or another. Instead, they analyzed the survey data for each state over time, comparing rates before and after laws were passed. The analysis took months, she says, and controlled for a variety of potentially confounding factors in order to isolate the impact of these laws on past-year suicide attempts.

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