Study Links U.S. Anti-Trans Legislation and Suicide Attempts

A study published recently in Nature Human Behavior has found a link between the enactment of anti-trans laws by U.S. states and suicide attempts reported by young transgender and gender non-binary people from these states. The research surveyed more than 61,000 trans and non-binary teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 24 from 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico and asked them if they had a past-year suicide attempt.

Among those living in states that one to three years prior to the survey had enacted one or several anti-trans laws, reported suicide attempts surged, especially in years 2 and 3. For the entire study group from these states, the number of reported suicide attempts in the years in question rose between 0.16 and 0.19 points, which represented an increase of between 38 and 42 percent above the study mean. For teenagers, these increases stood at between 0.28 and 0.39, representing a rise of 52 to 72 percent. Researchers explained the small and partially not statistically significant increases in year 1 after enactment with lags in implementation.

The study found no such impact concerning the introduction, but not enactment of law and also found no difference in the number of laws enacted. While the enactment of laws was found to have an effect on reported suicide attempts, it wasn't found to have had an effect on the group's homelessness or employment status.

Transgender and non-binary teenagers and young people are statistically more likely to report mental health issues and are also more likely to attempt suicide. This issue is also generally higher among younger teenagers from this group, as the study also showed.