Psychosocial factors associated with non-suicidal self-injury attempts among people in the transmasculine and non-binary spectrum from Argentina

ABSTRACT

Transmasculine and non-binary individuals frequently experience stigma related to their gender identity, which leads to higher rates of mental health problems in comparison with the cisgender population. This study describes the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) attempts and explores its association with indicators of violence, discrimination, and gender affirmation among people who self-identify within the transmasculine and non-binary spectrum from Argentina. Between May and September 2019, 415 participants completed an online survey. The median age was 23 years (IQR = 19–27). Most of the sample (84.6%) self-identified as transmasculine (e.g. trans man or male) and 15.4% as non-binary. The prevalence of NSSI attempts was high (74.6%). The first attempt frequently occurred during adolescence. NSSI attempts were negatively associated with indicators of psychological, medical, and legal gender affirmation only at the bivariate level. In the final multivariable model, NSSI attempts remained associated with younger age, bullying at school, violence from family members, and sexual abuse. Prevalence of NSSI attempts among transmasculine and non-binary people from Argentina is disproportionately elevated. It is critical to prioritise this population in policies and interventions to prevent this problem from an early age. Such interventions should address discrimination and violence against this community, since these are the factors primarily associated with occurrence of NSSI attempts.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender identity
• trans men
• non-suicidal self-injury attempts
• violence
• Argentina

Acknowledgments

We thank all the transmasculine and non-binary people that collaborated in all stages of this study. We also express our deepest thanks to Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina (ATTTA) and, especially, to Iván Puhlmann.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request to the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.