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Stewart SL, Van Dyke JN, Poss JW. Examining the Mental Health Presentations of Treatment-Seeking Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Youth. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2021;doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1.
Stewart, S. L., Van Dyke, J. N., & Poss, J. W. (2021). Examining the Mental Health Presentations of Treatment-Seeking Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Youth. Child psychiatry and human development, . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1
Stewart, Shannon L, et al. "Examining the Mental Health Presentations of Treatment-Seeking Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Youth." Child psychiatry and human development vol. (2021). doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1
Stewart SL, Van Dyke JN, Poss JW. Examining the Mental Health Presentations of Treatment-Seeking Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Youth. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2021 Dec 03; doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1. Epub 2021 Dec 03. PMID: 34860314.
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Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2021 Dec 03; doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1. Epub 2021 Dec 03.

Examining the Mental Health Presentations of Treatment-Seeking Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Youth.

Child psychiatry and human development

Shannon L Stewart, Jocelyn N Van Dyke, Jeffrey W Poss

Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, 1137 Western Rd, London, ON, N6G 1G7, Canada.
  2. Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, 1137 Western Rd, London, ON, N6G 1G7, Canada. [email protected].
  3. School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G5, Canada.

PMID: 34860314 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-021-01289-1

Abstract

Recent research suggests that transgender and/or gender nonconforming (TGNC) youth present with heightened levels of mental health problems compared to peers. This study seeks to examine the mental health needs of a large sample of treatment-seeking TGNC youth by comparing them to cisgender males and females. Participants were 94,804 children and youth ages 4-18 years (M = 12.1, SD = 3.72) who completed the interRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Instrument (ChYMH) or Screener (ChYMH-S) at participating mental health agencies in the Ontario, Canada. Overall, the mental health presentations of TGNC youth were similar to cisgender females but at higher acuity levels. TGNC youth showed significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, social disengagement, positive symptoms, risk of suicide/self-harm, and were more likely to report experiencing emotional abuse, past suicide attempts, and a less strong, supportive family relationship than cisgender females and males. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

© 2021. The Author(s).

Keywords: Adolescent mental health; Gender nonconforming; TGNC; Transgender; interRAI

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