Month: May 2017

More than half of transgender youth in Prairies have self-harmed, new study says

More than half of transgender youth in Prairies have self-harmed, new study says:

allthecanadianpolitics:

An alarming number of transgender youth in the Prarie provinces have attempted to harm or even kill themselves, a new study has found, and they also report higher rates of bullying and discrimination than transgender youth elsewhere in Canada.

But at the same time, more transgender teens and young adults in Manitoba and Saskatchewan say they’ve had positive relationships with their families and doctors compared to their peers across Canada, according to the study.

[…]

The Prairies study, released Thursday, is based on the responses of 67 Manitoba and Saskatchewan transgender teens and young adults who participated in the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey, a 2015 nationwide study involving a total of 923 respondents age 14-25.

Respondents were surveyed between October 2013 and May 2014 about their home and school situations, their physical and mental health, and issues such as access to inclusive medical care and personal safety.

The report found that about 50 per cent of school-age youth from the Prairies said they had attempted suicide — compared to 37 per cent nationwide — while 60 per cent of all respondents from Manitoba and Saskatchewan said they had engaged in self-harming behaviour, compared to 24 per cent nationally.

It also found 53 per cent of transgender school-age youth (age 14-18) from Saskatchewan and Manitoba said they were bullied at school, while 74 per cent of transgender adults age 19-25 said they had been treated unfairly due to their appearance.

About 39 per cent of respondents from Manitoba and Saskatchewan reported being sexually assaulted — the highest rate among the regions and above the national rate of 23 per cent.

School-age youth from the Prairies reported higher rates of almost all types of drug use compared to the national sample, she said.

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