2 Recent Studies Thats Show The Benefits Of Gender Affirming Hormones
Feb 2 2022
Recently 2 studies have been released that show transgender teenagers who get gender-affirming hormones (GAH) are much better off. These studies add to the pile of data showing transition does not cause harm. Let's take a closer look at these studies.
The first study is "Access to gender-affirming hormones during adolescence and mental health outcomes among transgender adults," it has been peer-reviewed and was published on Jan 12, 2022. The study sampled more than 27,000 adults and examined the effect of GAH in adolescence on mental health.
The study found that after adjusting for confounding variables transgender people who got GAH from 14-18 had much better mental health in adulthood with lower amounts of severe psychological distress and suicidal thoughts. The amount of severe psychological distress was down 222% percent and the number of suicidal thoughts was down 135% compared to the control group that never got GAH. Also because of the time between getting GAH and the survey you can conclude that the benefits of GAH are long-lasting.
The study found similar results with transgender people who got GAH in adulthood through the befits were a smaller lower possibly showing getting GAH in your teenage years more early on is more helpful.
The second study is "Association of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy With Depression, Thoughts of Suicide, and Attempted Suicide Among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth," it was peer-reviewed and published on Dec 14, 2021. It sampled more than 34,000 LGBT+ youth.
The study found that transgender youth who got GAH had around 40% lower odds of recent depression, attempting suicide, and suicidal thoughts in the past year compared to transgender youth who did not get GAH. The study also found that transgender youth who got GAH were more at risk for gender identity-based discrimination. This shows that the biggest risk from transition is discrimination and that TERFs attacking transgender people are adding to the problem.
These 2 studies show that getting GAH is beneficial to mental health and lowers suicide rates. These studies add to the scientific consensus and the other research is done on this topic showing GAH is helpful. TERFs claim they are trying to protect children while going against science. It's like they are more afraid of the fact that the treatment is related to being transgender.
Unfortunately, misinformation, fear-mongering, and plain transphobia are making it harder for kids to get life-saving treatment. Many states are trying to push transphobic laws that would ban life-saving treatment for kids. To fight back share this article, share these studies and consider donating to organizations like the HRC.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261039
https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00568-1/fulltext#relatedArticles