A 2014 survey found that 48% of trans people under the age of 26 had attempted suicide, and that 59% had at least considered doing so.
The research involved interviews and a survey of more than 2,000 people in England from 2010 to 2014 and was conducted by Pace, a mental health charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, in partnership with Brunel University, the University of Worcester, and London South Bank University.
In contrast, about 6% of all 16- to 24-year-olds say they have attempted suicide, according to the Adult Psychiatry Morbidity Survey.
Pace chief executive Margaret Unwin said: “The lack of visibility and acceptance in society contributes to these shocking figures about suicide attempts and self-harm in trans young people. While society’s attitudes towards transgender people are changing, it is still not fast enough and the negative impacts on trans people’s mental health every day are huge.”
We help teenagers who have nowhere else to turn
Jay Stewart is co-founder of Gendered Intelligence, a group that supports young trans people and seeks to increase education around trans issues. He says the results of the Pace survey are not surprising. “We have been working with young people since 2006 and the demand for our services is growing. While there have been many changes in legislation, the realities of young trans people are that they can experience highly negative responses for either being trans or expressing gender variance.”
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There were only 27 transgender people in this study of which 13 had attempted suicide. This is not a big enough study to say that “nearly half of trans youth have attempted suicide”. Mentioning that there was more than 2000 people involved in the study is misleading as it is easily taken to mean that these were all trans people. Yes, only 6% of all young people have attempted suicide but this is not a useful comparator. The SAME study shows 26% of those surveyed who identify as cis-gender have also attempted suicide, two thirds of this group was made up of LGB people. So trans people are not exclusively at risk from suicide, so are LGB people. I’m not saying trans people are not at high risk of suicide but so are other groups.