Predictors of Bullying, Depression, and Suicidality among Youth: Intersection of Race/Ethnicity by Gender Identity

Overview: This presentation addresses an often-overlooked issue among vulnerable youth with intersecting identities. Exploring the influences of intersectional identities (race/ethnicity  gender identity) among youth on their health-related risks has implications for developing preventive and interventive programs for these youth in school and other practical settings.Proposal text:

Background: Racial and ethnic minorities (REM) and gender minority (GM) youth experience numerous stressors and social inequalities that are complicated in nature and mutually constitutive. These identities and positionalities impact their daily lives and interact in a way that may exacerbate emotional distress, bullying victimization, and self-harm behaviors (Eisenberg et al., 2019). While previous research has clearly demonstrated that these youth, examined primarily as distinct groups (i.e., REM or GM youth), are at elevated risk for adverse physical and mental health outcomes (e.g., Evans & Erickson, 2019), little research has explored the health-related risk disparities impacting these youth through the lens of intersectionality. Thus, guided by the minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and intersectionality framework (Crenshaw, 1994), this study seeks to address this limitation by answering the following research question: “What is the relationship between the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity and health-related risks (i.e., depression, school bullying, online bullying, and suicide attempts) among youth?” This is the first study that explored differences in health risks at the intersections of race/ethnicity and gender identity.

Methods: This study used secondary data collected for the 2015 Survey and used a subsample of 6,554 students (ages =14-18 years). Responses to the race/ethnicity and gender identity questions were combined to capture the intersection resulting in eight different categories of intersectional identities (e.g., cisgender White, transgender Latino/Hispanic). Four health-related risks were assessed by items that asked students’ experiences of depression, school bullying, online bullying, and suicide attempts (0=No; 1=Yes). Control variables included students’ age, sex, sexual orientation, and school grade. For analyses, four sets of multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender identity and health-related risks. All analyses were performed using Stata 15.0.

Results: The results supported minority stress theory and intersectionality by illustrating that youth identifying both as REM and as GM had significantly higher levels of depression compared to those only identifying as REM or as GM. Across all intersectional identities and positionalities, except for cisgender Latino/Hispanic, cisgender other races, and trans other races, youth with intersecting identities related to race/ethnicity and gender identity reported significantly higher levels of depression compared to cisgender White youth. This disparity was particularly pronounced for transgender Latino/Hispanic youth and transgender multiracial youth who were at significantly higher odds of reporting depression.

Conclusion: The results from this study indicated that the intersection of marginalized identities is associated with health-related risks among youth, thereby creating a gap in their well-being. Schools can decrease these risks by initiating mental health and suicide prevention campaigns and addressing racial equity and LGBTQA+ issues in curricula. School counselors and practitioners also need to recognize different systemic barriers to opportunity and multiple forms of prejudice, which can be the first step in adopting an intersectional approach for vulnerable youth with marginalized identities. Creating inclusive school environments could mitigate the effects of different health-related risks and help these youth explore their identities, thereby promoting safe learning environments for all students.