The Critical Role of Coping Strategies in Moderating Loneliness and Quality of Life: Parallel and Unique Processes among Transgender and Heterosexual Cisgender People in Pakistan.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Batool S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8431102 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundAssessment of health disparities between population groups is essential to provide basic information for resource prioritization in public health. The objective of this study is to assess the extent that behavioral health outcomes and experience of violence varied between cisgender heterosexual adolescents and those who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, and asexual (LGBTQA+) in the 5th National School Survey on Alcohol Consumption, Substance Use and Other Health-Risk Behaviors.MethodsWe surveyed secondary school students in years 7, 9 and 11 in 113 schools in Thailand. We used self-administered questionnaires to ask participants about their gender identity and sexual orientation and classified participants as cisgender heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, or asexual, stratified by sex assigned at birth. We also measured depressive symptoms, suicidality, sexual behaviors, alcohol and tobacco use, drug use, and past-year experience of violence. We analyzed the survey data using descriptive statistics with adjustment for sampling weights.ResultsOur analyses included data from 23,659 participants who returned adequately-completed questionnaires. Among participants included in our analyses, 23 percent identified as LGBTQA+ with the most common identity being bisexual/polysexual girls. Participants who identified as LGBTQA+ were more likely to be in older year levels and attending general education schools rather than vocational schools. LGBTQA+ participants generally had higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, suicidality, and alcohol use than cisgender heterosexual participants, whereas the prevalence of sexual behaviors, lifetime history of illicit drug use, and past-year history of violence varied widely between groups.ConclusionWe found disparities in behavioral health between cisgender heterosexual participants and LGBTQA+ participants. However, issues regarding potential misclassification of participants, limitation of past-year history of behaviors to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lack of data from youths outside the formal education system should be considered as caveats in the interpretation of the study findings.
| S-EPMC10270608 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gender is one of the central categories organizing children's social world. Clear patterns of gender development have been well-documented among cisgender children (i.e., children who identify as a gender that is typically associated with their sex assigned at birth). We present a comprehensive study of gender development (e.g., gender identity and gender expression) in a cohort of 3- to 12-y-old transgender children (n = 317) who, in early childhood, are identifying and living as a gender different from their assigned sex. Four primary findings emerged. First, transgender children strongly identify as members of their current gender group and show gender-typed preferences and behaviors that are strongly associated with their current gender, not the gender typically associated with their sex assigned at birth. Second, transgender children's gender identity (i.e., the gender they feel they are) and gender-typed preferences generally did not differ from 2 comparison groups: cisgender siblings (n = 189) and cisgender controls (n = 316). Third, transgender and cisgender children's patterns of gender development showed coherence across measures. Finally, we observed minimal or no differences in gender identity or preferences as a function of how long transgender children had lived as their current gender. Our findings suggest that early sex assignment and parental rearing based on that sex assignment do not always define how a child identifies or expresses gender later.
| S-EPMC6900519 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Early in childhood, children already have an awareness of prescriptive stereotypes- or beliefs about what a girl or boy should do (e.g., "girls should play with dolls"). In the present work, we investigate the relation between children's own prescriptive gender stereotypes and their perceptions of others' prescriptive gender stereotypes within three groups of children previously shown to differ in their prescriptive stereotyping-6-to-11-year-old transgender children (N = 93), cisgender siblings of transgender children (N = 55), and cisgender controls (N = 93). Cisgender and transgender children did not differ in their prescriptive stereotypes or their perceptions of others' prescriptive stereotypes, though the relationship between these variables differed by group. The more cisgender control children believed others held prescriptive stereotypes, the more they held those stereotypes, a relation that did not exist for transgender children. Further, all groups perceived the stereotypes of others to be more biased than their own stereotypes.
| S-EPMC8043623 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Children essentialize gender from a young age, viewing it as inborn, biologically based, unchanging, and predictive of preferences and behaviors. Children's gender essentialism appears to be so pervasive that it is found within conservative and liberal communities, and among transgender and cisgender children. However, it remains unclear what aspect of gender the children participating in past studies essentialized. Such studies used labels such as "girl" or "boy" without clarifying how children (or researchers) interpreted them. Are they indicators of the target's biological categorization at birth (sex), the target's sense of their own gender (gender identity), or some third possible interpretation? This distinction becomes particularly relevant when transgender children are concerned, as their sex assigned at birth and gender identity are not aligned. In the present two studies, we discovered that 6- to 11-year-old transgender children, their cisgender siblings, and unrelated cisgender children, all essentialized both sex and gender identity. Moreover, transgender and cisgender children did not differ in their essentialism of sex (i.e., whether body parts would remain stable over time). Importantly, however, transgender children were less likely than unrelated cisgender children to essentialize when hearing an ambiguous gender/sex label ("girl" or "boy"). Finally, the two studies showed mixed findings on whether the participant groups differed in reasoning about the stability of a gender-nonconforming target's gender identity. These findings illustrate that a child's identity can relate to their conceptual development, as well as the importance of diversifying samples to enhance our understanding of social cognitive development.
| S-EPMC8530878 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The increasing use of machine learning approaches on neuroimaging data comes with the important concern of confounding variables which might lead to biased predictions and in turn spurious conclusions about the relationship between the features and the target. A prominent example is the brain size difference between women and men. This difference in total intracranial volume (TIV) can cause bias when employing machine learning approaches for the investigation of sex differences in brain morphology. A TIV-biased model will not capture qualitative sex differences in brain organization but rather learn to classify an individual's sex based on brain size differences, thus leading to spurious and misleading conclusions, for example when comparing brain morphology between cisgender- and transgender individuals. In this study, TIV bias in sex classification models applied to cis- and transgender individuals was systematically investigated by controlling for TIV either through featurewise confound removal or by matching the training samples for TIV. Our results provide strong evidence that models not biased by TIV can classify the sex of both cis- and transgender individuals with high accuracy, highlighting the importance of appropriate modeling to avoid bias in automated decision making.
| S-EPMC10449927 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Disturbances of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling, which may occur among those with a polymorphism of the Val66Met gene, comprising a Met substitution for the Val allele, may be associated with depressive cognitions. However, presumed elevated BDNF levels among individuals with the Val/Val genotype, might confer increased responsivity to contextual challenges, thus fostering vulnerability to depression. In Study 1, among undergraduate students (N = 252), increased loneliness perceptions were accompanied with depressive symptoms. This relationship was moderated by self-efficacy and BDNF genotype, such that when individuals appraised high self-efficacy, those with the Val/Val genotype, compared to Met carriers, reported greater depression scores when they perceived feeling lonely. Study 2 revealed that among undergraduate students (N = 178), lower depressive scores were associated with increased problem-focused coping among Val/Val individuals, but not Met carriers. Moreover, with increased perceived loneliness, Val/Val carriers endorsed lower problem-focused coping. Findings suggest that Val/Val individuals may have adverse neurocognitive vulnerability to loneliness experiences.
| S-EPMC5515873 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundIn the US, transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals, particularly trans feminine individuals, experience a disproportionately high burden of HIV relative to their cisgender counterparts. While engagement in the HIV Care Continuum (e.g., HIV care visits, antiretroviral (ART) prescribed, ART adherence) is essential to reduce viral load, HIV transmission, and related morbidity, the extent to which TGD people engage in one or more steps of the HIV Care Continuum at similar levels as cisgender people is understudied on a national level and by gendered subgroups.Methods and findingsWe used Medicare Fee-for-Service claims data from 2009 to 2017 to identify TGD (trans feminine and non-binary (TFN), trans masculine and non-binary (TMN), unclassified gender) and cisgender (male, female) beneficiaries with HIV. Using a retrospective cross-sectional design, we explored within- and between-gender group differences in the predicted probability (PP) of engaging in one or more steps of the HIV Care Continuum. TGD individuals had a higher predicted probability of every HIV Care Continuum outcome compared to cisgender individuals [HIV Care Visits: TGD PP=0.22, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI)=0.22-0.24; cisgender PP=0.21, 95% CI=0.21-0.22); Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Screening (TGD PP=0.12, 95% CI=0.11-0.12; cisgender PP=0.09, 95% CI=0.09-0.10); ART Prescribed (TGD PP=0.61, 95% CI=0.59-0.63; cisgender PP=0.52, 95% CI=0.52-0.54); and ART Persistence or adherence (90% persistence: TGD PP=0.27, 95% CI=0.25-0.28; 95% persistence: TGD PP=0.13, 95% CI=0.12-0.14; 90% persistence: cisgender PP=0.23, 95% CI=0.22-0.23; 95% persistence: cisgender PP=0.11, 95% CI=0.11-0.12)]. Notably, TFN individuals had the highest probability of every outcome (HIV Care Visits PP =0.25, 95% CI=0.24-0.27; STI Screening PP =0.22, 95% CI=0.21-0.24; ART Prescribed PP=0.71, 95% CI=0.69-0.74; 90% ART Persistence PP=0.30, 95% CI=0.28-0.32; 95% ART Persistence PP=0.15, 95% CI=0.14-0.16) and TMN people or cisgender females had the lowest probability of every outcome (HIV Care Visits: TMN PP =0.18, 95% CI=0.14-0.22; STI Screening: Cisgender Female PP =0.11, 95% CI=0.11-0.12; ART Receipt: Cisgender Female PP=0.40, 95% CI=0.39-0.42; 90% ART Persistence: TMN PP=0.15, 95% CI=0.11-0.20; 95% ART Persistence: TMN PP=0.07, 95% CI=0.04-0.10). The main limitation of this research is that TGD and cisgender beneficiaries were included based on their observed care, whereas individuals who did not access relevant care through Fee-for-Service Medicare at any point during the study period were not included. Thus, our findings may not be generalizable to all TGD and cisgender individuals with HIV, including those with Medicare Advantage or other types of insurance.ConclusionsAlthough TGD beneficiaries living with HIV had superior engagement in the HIV Care Continuum than cisgender individuals, findings highlight notable disparities in engagement for TMN individuals and cisgender females, and engagement was still low for all Medicare beneficiaries, independent of gender. Interventions are needed to reduce barriers to HIV care engagement for all Medicare beneficiaries to improve treatment outcomes and reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality in the US.
| S-EPMC10984057 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Abstract Background: While there is growing awareness of the need to support the physical and mental wellbeing of transgender people, some may be reluctant to seek help from healthcare professionals. Little is understood about the mechanisms that influence help-seeking behavior in this group. Aims: This study aimed to compare transgender and cisgender participants in their likelihood to seek help for both physical and mental health conditions, and to explore whether this help-seeking behavior is predicted by a range of sociodemographic and psychological variables. Methods: 123 participants living in Ireland (cisgender= 67; transgender= 56) completed a questionnaire which included demographic questions, as well as measures of optimism (LOT-R), self-esteem (RSES), psychological distress (GHQ-12), attitudes towards seeking psychological help (ATSPPH-SF), and attitudes towards seeking help for a physical health problem (Attitudes Towards Seeking Medical Help Scale- Action/Intervention subscale). Associations between predictor variables and mental and physical health seeking were explored using correlation analysis and stepwise regressions. Results: Transgender participants were less likely to seek help for a physical health issue than cisgender participants, but did not differ in mental health help-seeking behaviors. Results suggest that this may be due to differences in optimism, self-esteem and psychological distress. Transgender participants had significantly lower optimism and self-esteem, which were two factors linked to poorer physical health seeking behaviors. Optimism also emerged as a significant predictor in mental health seeking behaviors. Discussion: The lack of a significant difference for mental health help-seeking between the transgender and cisgender participants is encouraging, as it suggests that there is less stigma surrounding mental illness than expected, however findings also contradict previous findings suggesting that physical health is less stigmatized. This could be due to stigma relating to gender-specific healthcare and suggests that healthcare professionals should acknowledge the specific healthcare needs and concerns among transgender individuals.
| S-EPMC6913671 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Transgender men are individuals who identify as men but were assigned female at birth. Gender-af?rming medications include testosterone hormone therapy, known for its diverse e?ects throughout the body, which include endometrial atrophy and the induction of amenorrhea by suppressing ovulation, without however affecting the ovarian follicle pool. This paper reports the first case in Brazil involving a transgender man and a cisgender woman attempting to form a family. A 34-year-old transgender man and a 28-year-old woman came to our assisted reproduction service. He had been on testosterone for two years. At their initial consultation, testosterone therapy was discontinued. Controlled ovarian stimulation for the transgender man was achieved using a combination of recombinant gonadotropins FSH and LH. Pituitary blockage was performed using a GnRH antagonist protocol. Twenty follicles were aspirated and 16 oocytes were retrieved, 12 of which mature. They were inseminated with donor semen. On the fifth day of development, one high quality blastocyst was transferred to the cisgender woman, resulting in an ongoing pregnancy. Five supernumerary embryos were cryopreserved. Controlled ovarian stimulation with high quality oocytes, high quality embryos, and clinical pregnancy are possible for transgender men, even with a history of testosterone use.
| S-EPMC7558884 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe term "transgender" refers to an individual whose gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth, whereas the term "cisgender" refers to an individual whose gender identity is the same as their sex assigned at birth. In Thailand, studies on health outcomes and quality of life of Thai transgender youths have not included assessments from nationally-representative samples. The objective of this study is to assess the extent that behavioral health outcomes and exposure to violence varied by gender among respondents of the National School Survey on Alcohol Consumption, Substance Use and Other Health-Risk Behaviors.MethodsWe used data from a nationally-representative self-administered survey of secondary school students in years 7, 9 and 11 and classified participants as cisgender boys, cisgender girls, transgender boys, and transgender girls. Participants also answered questions on depressive experience, suicidality, sexual behaviors, alcohol and tobacco use, drug use, and past-year experience of violence. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and modified multivariate Poisson regression with adjustment for sampling weights to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) with 95% confidence intervals.ResultsA total of 31,898 respondents (82.8% of those who returned complete and valid questionnaires) answered questions on sex and gender identity and were included in the analyses (n = 31,898 respondents), approximately 2.5% of whom identified as transgender. Transgender boys had a higher prevalence suicidal ideation than cisgender boys (APR = 2.97; 95% CI = 1.89, 4.67) and cisgender girls (APR = 2.29; 95% CI = 1.55, 3.40). Transgender girls were less likely than cisgender boys and girls to be ever drinkers, while transgender boys were more likely than cisgender boys and girls to be ever drinkers. Transgender girls had higher past-year exposure to sexual violence than cisgender boys (APR = 2.74; 95% CI = 1.52, 4.95) and cisgender girls (APR = 4.93; 95% CI = 2.52, 9.67).ConclusionWe found disparities in behavioral health and experience of violence between transgender and cisgender adolescents in Thailand. The findings highlighted the need for program managers and policy makers to consider expanding local efforts to address health gaps in the LGBTQ community to also include school-going youth population.
| S-EPMC8162664 | biostudies-literature