Anti-Trans Legislative Efforts & Socio-Emotional Problem Changes in Trans & Cisgender U.S. Youth

Abstract

In light of a recent sharp rise in anti-transgender legislative efforts and socio-political discourse across U.S. states, this study aimed to longitudinally examine whether the number of anti-transgender bills proposed in state legislatures between 2019 and 2022 would predict increased internalizing and externalizing problems among transgender, and not cisgender, youth, over and above pre-existing anti-transgender structural climates (i.e., laws passed) and legislative effort. Longitudinal two-level linear regression models, using data from the second to fourth wave of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, examined change in internalizing and externalizing problems across child, parent, and teacher informants in N = 175 transgender and N = 8,368 cisgender youth, modeling the effect of a discriminatory anti-transgender bill tally, derived from American Civil Liberties Union reports, moderated by gender identity. With gender identity as a significant moderator, anti-transgender legislative efforts across U.S. state legislatures predicted increased teacher-reported internalizing problems among transgender youth, but not cisgender youth, and increased parent-reported externalizing problems, more strongly among transgender youth than cisgender youth. Findings suggest that anti-transgender legislative efforts can increase internalizing and externalizing problems among transgender and, to a lesser extent, cisgender youth, in addition to existing discriminatory legal and policy climates and bills passed. Anti-transgender legislative efforts can uniquely contribute to socio-emotional problems among transgender youth, in addition to existing discriminatory legal climates and adopted bills. Beyond unequal rights and prejudicial laws, discriminatory legislative efforts as structural forms of transgender youth marginalization can also significantly widen gender identity-based health disparities across childhood and adolescence.