Transgender adolescents had a higher risk of overall sleep disturbance and symptoms of insomnia and excessive sleepiness.
This is according to a study – “Gender Identity Disparities in Early Adolescent Sleep: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study” by Colbey Ricklefs, Priyadharshini Balasubramanian, Kyle T. Ganson, et al – that appeared in LGBT Health.
For this study, the researchers wanted to examine associations between transgender identity and sleep disturbance in early adolescents. They conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study from Year 3 (2019–2021, n = 10,277, 12–13 years) to investigate the association between transgender identity and caregiver-reported measures of their adolescent’s sleep, assessed by the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children.
Some of the findings included:
- Transgender adolescents had a higher risk of overall sleep disturbance and symptoms of insomnia and excessive sleepiness.
- As per caregiver report, transgender adolescents were more likely to have shorter sleep duration categories; particularly concerning is the significant risk of <5 hours of sleep for transgender adolescents compared with their cisgender peers.
Compared with their cisgender peers, “transgender adolescents had worse caregiver-reported sleep outcomes,” the researchers noted. As such, there is a “need for screenings and interventions targeted at improving sleep among transgender adolescents.”
