A new population-based study from UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership reveals that transgender and gender-diverse (T&GD) youth experience significantly lower mental well-being compared to their cisgender peers, with school connectedness emerging as the most crucial factor for promoting their well-being.
The research, published in School Mental Health, analyzed data from more than 23,000 students in grades 6-8 across British Columbia who completed the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) survey during the 2022-23 school year.
“Our findings show concerning disparities in mental well-being between transgender and gender-diverse youth and their cisgender peers,” said first-author Maram Alkawaja, PhD Candidate at UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) within the School of Population and Public Health. “But importantly, we identified modifiable factors that can promote better outcomes for these young people.”
Transgender and gender-diverse youth experience lower well-being
The study found that 3.7% of adolescents identified as T&GD. The most common terms youth used to label their gender identity were non-binary (39.6%), gender fluid (20.4%), demi-girl (5.4%), and transgender (3.4%). The researchers wanted to understand mental well-being among T&GD and cisgender youth, so they looked at two indicators: satisfaction with life and depressive symptoms. They found that T&GD youth reported significantly lower satisfaction with life and higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to cisgender boys and girls.
School connectedness matters
The research team also explored how connectedness to peers, adults, and school were related to mental health and well-being, finding that all three were linked to higher levels of well-being for adolescents. School connectedness—the experience of feeling welcomed, supported, and included at school—emerged as the most influential factor for T&GD youth.
“What’s striking is that for cisgender youth, connection to adults at home explained the largest portion of variance in life satisfaction,” said senior author and project lead Dr. Eva Oberle, Associate Professor at HELP. “But for transgender and gender-diverse youth, school connectedness was consistently the most important factor for both life satisfaction and lower depressive symptoms.” These findings align with other research which indicates that stressful environments featuring bias, prejudice, and discrimination can contribute to mental health disparities for minority groups, but that schools can play a critical role in buffering the impact of these stressors by prioritizing connectedness and inclusivity.
Creating supportive school environments
The study’s findings have important implications for public health and educational programming in schools. While ideally T&GD adolescents would experience support from family, peers, and school, factors at the school level can be more easily modified in a systemic way to ensure their safety and well-being. Some recommended approaches include:
- Ensuring schools are safe, caring and inclusive
- Implementing sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)-inclusive education
- Establishing firm codes of conduct with zero tolerance for discrimination
- Creating well-articulated procedures for reporting bullying and victimization
- Supporting the use of chosen names and pronouns
- Implementing stigma-reducing initiatives like gender-neutral bathrooms
- Allowing students to join sports teams based on their preferred gender identity
- Providing schoolwide social and emotional learning programs
- Training staff to respond to family inquiries respectfully
- Ensuring curricular and library materials contain inclusive language and content
“Creating safe and inclusive school environments may be key for supporting transgender and gender-diverse students who might not experience support in other environments such as at home,” said co-author Dr. Tonje Molyneux, researcher with Wellstream in UBC’s School of Nursing. “Our findings suggest school connectedness operates as a critical factor in promoting their overall well-being.”
The researchers suggest future studies should explore additional modifiable factors at the school level and examine potential differences in mental well-being outcomes based on levels of support and inclusivity.
The study was published in March 2025 in the journal School Mental Health and was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
*This story was originally written and published by UBC School of Population and Public Health.