King WM, Fleischer NL, Operario D, Chatters LM, Gamarel KE. Inequities in the distribution of adverse childhood experiences and their association with health among transgender people of color.
CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2024;
149:106654. [PMID:
38350400 DOI:
10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106654]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Racism and cisgenderism expose transgender people of color to adversity across the life course. However, little is known about the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in this population or their association with health in comparison to other groups.
OBJECTIVE
Guided by the structural trauma framework, we examined race/ethnicity/gender group differences in the prevalence of ACEs and their association with adult mental and physical health.
PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING
2019-2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey.
METHODS
Transgender participants (n = 551) were matched with two cisgender men (n = 1102) and two cisgender women (n = 1102) on key covariates. We compared age-adjusted predicted probabilities of nine ACEs by race/ethnicity/gender group. We then fit adjusted logistic regression models predicting poor mental and physical health by each ACE and compared marginal effects between groups.
RESULTS
Transgender people of color had higher age-adjusted probabilities of six ACEs than at least one other group; for example, household incarceration was 0.16 (95 % CI: 0.11-0.22) compared to 0.09 (95 % CI: 0.06-0.13) for cisgender men of color (p = 0.032). The relationship between five ACEs and poor mental health was greater for transgender people of color than at least one other group. For instance, the marginal effect of household alcoholism on poor mental health was 0.28 (95 % CI: 0.11-0.45) compared to 0.07 (0.01-0.14) for White cisgender men (p = 0.031). There were no statistically significant differences regarding effects on poor physical health.
CONCLUSIONS
ACEs inequitably impact transgender people of color, reflecting the need to restructure the interlocking systems that drive adversity among transgender children of color and exacerbate ACEs' health effects among adults.
Collapse