Social Support and the Association Between Certain Forms of Violence and Harassment and Suicidal Ideation Among Transgender Women 2019-2020

Transgender women are more likely to report suicidal thoughts than transgender men, nonbinary persons, and other gender diverse groups. On the basis of CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Among Transgender Women (NHBS-Trans) during 2019–2020, a total of 18% considered and 4% attempted suicide during the past 12 months. The prevalence of suicidal ideation during the past 12 months in this analysis was lower than other studies among nonrandom samples of transgender persons and young transgender women but was disproportionately higher than a randomly selected sample of the general population in the United States. Although social support might be protective against suicidal ideation, such support does not seem to completely buffer the association between certain forms violence and harassment and suicidal ideation.