Mental Health and Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors Among Black and Latinx Transgender Youth Compared With Peers

Course overview

This course is based upon material published in JAMA Network Open and is available as an open access article. Black and Latinx transgender youth experience stigma that may increase their susceptibility to mental health symptoms. The objective of this study is to compare past-year mental health symptoms and psychosocial factors among Black and Latinx transgender youth, White transgender youth, and Black and Latinx cisgender youth. Outcomes investigated include past-year depressive symptoms and suicidality. Psychosocial risk factors include school-based victimization, gender-based harassment, sexuality-based harassment, and race-based harassment; protective factors include school connectedness and caring adult relationships. In this study, Black and Latinx transgender youth had high rates of mental health symptoms, with rates comparable with White transgender youth but higher than Black and Latinx cisgender youth. Their unique pattern of psychosocial risk and protective factors for these mental health symptoms should be factored in clinical preventive services and school-based interventions to support them. In this survey study of 19,780 participants, analysis of a statewide school-based survey data set indicated that Black and Latinx transgender youth had high rates of depressive symptoms and suicidality, similar to those among White transgender youth but higher than those among Black and Latinx cisgender youth. These findings suggest that Black and Latinx transgender youth are susceptible to mental health symptoms that should be addressed through clinical services that consider both race/ethnicity and gender identity. This course on Black and Latinx transgender youth mental health challenges is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop or increase their knowledge of transgender racial minority youth. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article which includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A major benefit of reading research-based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Vance Jr., Boyer, Glidden, and Sevelius Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding mental health in ethnic minority transgender youth. Specifically, a professional will: Describe the prevalence of mental health symptoms by ethnic group and gender identity Recognize patterns of psychosocial risk and protective factors unique to Black and Latinx transgender youth Summarize potential protective factors that can support resilience in Black and Latinx transgender youth Citation: Vance, S.R., Jr., Boyer, C. B., Glidden, D. V., and Sevelius, J. Mental Health and Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors Among Black and Latinx Transgender Youth Compared With Peers. JAMA Network Open. 2021;4(3):e213256. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3256