Family Characteristics, Transgender Identity and Emotional Symptoms in Adolescence: A Population Survey Study

Riittakerttu Kaltiala (), Elias Heino, Mauri Marttunen and Sari Fröjd
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Riittakerttu Kaltiala: Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
Elias Heino: Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
Mauri Marttunen: Adolescent Psychiatry, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, 00260 Helsinki, Finland
Sari Fröjd: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Sociodemographic and psychosocial family factors have profound implications for adolescent development, identity formation and mental health during the adolescent years. We explored the associations of sociodemographic and psychosocial family factors with transgender identity in adolescence and the role of these factors in the associations between gender identity and emotional disorders. Data from a large adolescent population survey from Finland were analysed using logistic regression models. Reporting transgender identity was associated with mother’s low level of education, accumulating family life events, lack of family cohesion, perceived lack of family economic resources and female sex. A lack of family cohesion further differentiated between adolescents reporting identifying with the opposite sex and those reporting non-binary/other gender identification. The associations between transgender identity, depression and anxiety were attenuated but did not level out when family factors were controlled for. Transgender identity in adolescence is associated with socioeconomic and psychosocial family factors that are known correlates of negative outcomes in mental health and psychosocial well-being. However, transgender identification is also associated with emotional disorders independent of these family factors.

Keywords: transgender; adolescence; family; depression; anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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