Support from school and family is associated with better mental health among transgender and non-binary Quebecers aged 14 to 25, found a researcher from CHU Sainte-Justine. He urges the Quebec government to invest more in raising awareness and educating about gender diversity.
For these people, being well supported by their family and school environment also has an impact on the chances of having suicidal thoughts and attempting suicide, says Dr.r Nicholas Chadi, pediatrician and clinician-researcher specializing in adolescent medicine at CHU Sainte-Justine.
For their study published in mid-February in the journal LGBT Healththe Dr Chadi and his colleagues looked at the responses of 220 Quebecers aged 14 to 25 who took part in an online survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 among more than 1,000 young Canadians.
The results indicate that school and family – both of which occupy an important place in the lives of young people – can really make a difference, underlines the one who is also co-director of the gender diversity clinic at the CHU Sainte-Justine.
Overall, transgender and non-binary youth have more mental health issues than others, the pediatrician argued. “Recognizing or better understanding one’s identity can lead to many questions and can lead to moments of depression or anxiety about: ‘Who am I deep down?’ In 2023, there is also still stigma in some circles in relation to trans identity, he added.
Thus, 92% of young Anglophones in Quebec who were surveyed said that their mental health was poor or average. Among Francophones, this proportion rises to 72%. “Is this worrying? Is it a question that in English-speaking environments, either at school or in the family, there is less support? We don’t know exactly,” he said.
More awareness and education called for
Maël Ste-Marie Raymond, who is 17, says that after his coming out, about 5 years ago, her transition to a non-binary identity happened quite quickly due to the support of her family. ” I was lucky. But it pains me a lot to call it luck, because young people shouldn’t lack support from family or school. »
Maël, however, experienced depressive episodes between the ages of 13 and 16. “It’s not always easy to make a transition. You have a lot of stress and a lot of distress too, because the way you perceive your body does not correspond to how you feel. But also, the way people perceive us because of our body is incorrect. They don’t see us in the right way. »
Fortunately, resources have been made available to him to get through this ordeal.
At school, there is a lack of education in gender diversity, deplores Maël Ste-Marie Raymond, who lives in Estrie. “I had teachers who were really supportive and I had the school psychologist who was really fantastic. But at school, as such, it’s really difficult because it’s a whole system and trying to change the system is really not easy. »
However, Nicholas Chadi notes significant progress in society, such as the fact that more and more schools are offering training workshops for teachers and students on gender diversity. “On the other hand, there are still places in certain schools where it is difficult for young people to be able to choose their first name and pronoun. They come up against resistance. »
Sometimes transgender or non-binary young people are bullied or rejected at school, he continues. “Sometimes there is also no easy access to bathrooms that are gender neutral or match the person’s gender,” he adds.
Quebec must invest so that there is more awareness and education on these issues not only at the school level, but also in the rest of the population, according to the researcher.
Long waiting times
The Dr Chadi also raises the crying need for medical and psychosocial services for transgender and non-binary young people in order to support them in their gender affirmation process. “These services are mostly limited to big cities, in specialized clinics,” he said. And there can be very long waiting times. »
Quebec must provide support and training to health professionals in order to make these services available throughout the territory, he said.
Contacted by The duty, the office of the Minister responsible for the Status of Women and the fight against homophobia and transphobia, Martine Biron, said it was “very sensitive to the realities of trans and non-binary people”. The issue of the mental health of this population is worrying, wrote Catherine Boucher, press officer for Ms.me Biron.
“While the 2017-2023 Government Action Plan to Combat Homophobia and Transphobia will soon end, we will take the time to turn over all the stones to carefully consider all the means of supporting the LGBTQ community in the next plan”, she added.