State laws have a strong impact on the mental health of transgender people, study finds

A new study finds a strong link between a state’s policies and laws surrounding transgender rights and transgender people’s mental health.

“Transgender people who worried about their rights being taken away were significantly more likely to have depression and anxiety symptoms,” the study authors said. reported August 22 in the diary JAMA network opened.

“In contrast, people who were aware of state-level protective laws, particularly hate crime protections, were less likely to have depression and anxiety symptoms,” said a team led by Arjee Restar, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

As the Restar team noted, there has been a strong movement in recent years to limit or maintain transgender people’s access to health care and other services, depending on the state in which they live.

“In recent years, states across the U.S. have introduced a record number of bills aimed at restricting the protections and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer people. As of June 2024, more than 598 bills had been introduced in 43 states, 43 of which specifically targeted transgender rights,” the research team said.

Not all states have passed such laws.

In Washington state, for example, “several measures have been taken to protect trans rights,” Restar and her team pointed out. Those measures include legislation that prohibits discrimination against transgender people in the workplace, schools, and housing, as well as measures that prohibit denial of health insurance for treatments specific to transgender people.

Does knowledge of these measures affect the daily mental well-being of transgender people?

To find out, the Seattle team surveyed nearly 800 transgender people living in Washington state in March and April 2023.

Most (about 86%) reported that they were currently experiencing some degree of depression, a much higher figure than has been found in previous studies.

“This is likely because data from those studies can capture the prevalence of mental health conditions using a dataset that predates 2021, when anti-trans laws were first tightened in the US,” the researchers said.

The study found that transgender people who said they worried about their rights being taken away were 66 percent more likely to suffer from depression and nearly three times more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders, compared to transgender people who said they were not worried.

However, it mattered whether or not they were aware of Washington state’s efforts to protect their rights.

Results showed that participants who reported being aware of Washington’s efforts to protect transgender rights were 56% less likely to experience depression and 89% less likely to experience anxiety, compared to participants who were not aware.

“Those who were aware of state-level protective laws, particularly hate crime protections, were less likely to report depression and anxiety symptoms,” Restar’s group said. “Transgender individuals who were accurately aware of protective policies and did not worry about their rights being taken away reported the lowest rates of depression and anxiety.”

All of this underscores the “crucial role” that legal protection plays in safeguarding the mental well-being of transgender people, the authors conclude.

2024 Health Day. All rights reserved.