A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 81% of transgender adults in the country have thought about suicide, 42% of transgender adults have attempted it and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes, according to a press release.
Using data from the U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey (TransPop), researchers examined the prevalence of hazardous drinking, problematic drug use, serious psychological distress, suicidality and non-suicidal self-injury between transgender and cisgender adults.
While transgender and cisgender adults reported similar rates of hazardous drinking and problematic drug use, transgender people were significantly more likely to experience poor mental health during their lifetimes. Compared to cisgender adults, transgender adults were seven times more likely to contemplate suicide, four times more likely to attempt it, and eight times more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-injury.
Also, trans nonbinary adults reported higher rates of harmful substance use and poor mental health than transgender men and women; in fact, they were four times more likely to engage in hazardous drinking compared to trans women.
The report is at http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/transpop-substance-use/.
—Andrew Davis