Transgender men and women had greater risk of past-year physical violence when compared with cisgender people.
This is according to a study – “Physical, Sexual, and Intimate Partner Violence Among Transgender and Gender-Diverse Individuals” by Kalysha Closson, Sabrina C. Boyce, Nicole Johns, et al – that appeared in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers noted that transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) communities experience disproportionate levels of violence, and yet due to limitations in measuring TGD identity, few representative estimates are available. They, therefore, wanted to assess gender identity differences in experiences of violence among adults.
Here, the researchers used cross-sectional data from the 2023 California Violence Experiences (CalVEX) survey, weighted to provide state-representative estimates. This was also used to assess associations between gender identity and past-year experiences of violence among adults 18 years and older with data analyzed from June to December 2023.
In total 3,560 individuals (weighted cumulative response rate, 5%) completed the 2023 CalVEX survey, with 1,978 cisgender women, 1,431 cisgender men, 35 transgender women, 52 transgender men, and 64 nonbinary respondents (mean [SD] age, 47.1 [17.5] years; 635 [17%] were Asian, 839 [37%] were Hispanic, and 1159 [37%] were White).
Results included:
- Past-year physical violence was reported by 22 transgender men (43%), 9 transgender women (24%), and 9 nonbinary respondents (14%).
- Past-year sexual violence was reported by 23 transgender men (42%), 11 transgender women (14%), and 31 nonbinary respondents (56%).
- Compared with cisgender women, transgender women and transgender men had greater risk of past-year physical violence (any form) (transgender women adjusted incidence rate ratio [AIRR], 6.7; 95% CI, 2.5-18.2; transgender men AIRR, 9.7; 95% CI, 5.3-17.7), as well as past-year IPV (any form) (transgender women AIRR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.3-8.0; transgender men AIRR, 6.7; 95% CI, 4.0-11.3).
- Relative to cisgender women, transgender men (AIRR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.7-5.1) and nonbinary respondents (AIRR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.1-5.2) had greater risk of past-year sexual violence (any form).
“Results showed that TGD individuals, especially transgender men, are at higher risk of experiencing all forms of violence relative to cisgender women,” the researchers stressed. And so the “results highlight the need for gender-affirming violence prevention and intervention services as well as policies that protect TGD individuals from discriminatory violence.”
