IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i23p15908-d987667.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

History of Sex Work Is Associated with Increased Risk of Adverse Mental Health and Substance Use Outcomes in Transgender Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Ajay Keshav Pandey

    (Department of Biological Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA)

  • Kristie Seelman

    (School of Social Work, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA)

Abstract

Understanding factors influencing mental health and substance use in transgender and gender diverse people is critical to reducing disparities in this population. We sought to investigate whether a history of sex work was associated with increased prevalence of poor mental health, substance use, and a negative experience within drug and alcohol treatment facilities. We conducted a secondary analysis of the data of 25,204 transgender respondents of the 2015 United States Transgender Survey. We estimated multiple logistic regressions to assess the association between a history of sex work and adverse mental health and substance use outcomes. We then estimated mean prevalence of adverse outcomes by type of sex work. Finally, we performed chi-square analysis to explore differences in mistreatment at drug and alcohol treatment facilities. Respondents with a history of sex work were significantly more likely to have poorer psychological health, suicidality, and substance use after adjusting for covariates. Among those who visited drug and alcohol treatment facilities, those with a history of sex work were significantly more likely to report adverse experiences (26.34% vs. 11.63%). Our findings highlight the increased risk of adverse outcomes in transgender sex workers and emphasize the need for interventions targeting this subgroup of transgender people.

Suggested Citation

  • Ajay Keshav Pandey & Kristie Seelman, 2022. "History of Sex Work Is Associated with Increased Risk of Adverse Mental Health and Substance Use Outcomes in Transgender Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-16, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15908-:d:987667
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15908/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15908/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deering, K.N. & Amin, A. & Shoveller, J. & Nesbitt, A. & Garcia-Moreno, C. & Duff, P. & Argento, E. & Shannon, K., 2014. "A systematic review of the correlates of violence against sex workers," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(5), pages 42-54.
    2. White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L. & Pachankis, John E., 2015. "Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 222-231.
    3. Nuttbrock, L. & Bockting, W. & Rosenblum, A. & Hwahng, S. & Mason, M. & Macri, M. & Becker, J., 2014. "Gender abuse, depressive symptoms, and substance use among transgender women: A 3-year prospective study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(11), pages 2199-2206.
    4. Minilik Demissie Amogne & Anette Agardh & Ebba Abate & Jelaludin Ahmed & Benedict Oppong Asamoah, 2021. "Determinants and consequences of heavy episodic drinking among female sex workers in Ethiopia: A respondent-driven sampling study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, May.
    5. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303578_7 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bockting, W.O. & Miner, M.H. & Swinburne Romine, R.E. & Hamilton, A. & Coleman, E., 2013. "Stigma, mental health, and resilience in an online sample of the US transgender population," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 943-951.
    7. Meerwijk, E.L. & Sevelius, J.M., 2017. "Transgender population size in the United States: A meta-regression of population-based probability samples," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(2), pages 1-8.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lewis, Tom & Doyle, David Matthew & Barreto, Manuela & Jackson, Debby, 2021. "Social relationship experiences of transgender people and their relational partners: A meta-synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Ethan C Cicero & Sari L Reisner & Elizabeth I Merwin & Janice C Humphreys & Susan G Silva, 2020. "The health status of transgender and gender nonbinary adults in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Cristiano Scandurra & Vincenzo Bochicchio & Anna Lisa Amodeo & Concetta Esposito & Paolo Valerio & Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Dario Bacchini & Roberto Vitelli, 2018. "Internalized Transphobia, Resilience, and Mental Health: Applying the Psychological Mediation Framework to Italian Transgender Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, March.
    4. King, Wesley M. & Hughto, Jaclyn M.W. & Operario, Don, 2020. "Transgender stigma: A critical scoping review of definitions, domains, and measures used in empirical research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    5. Hanne Ochieng Lichtwarck & Method Rwelengera Kazaura & Kåre Moen & Elia John Mmbaga, 2022. "Harmful Alcohol Use and Associated Socio-Structural Factors among Female Sex Workers Initiating HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Hannah Van Borm & Marlot Dhoop & Allien Van Acker & Stijn Baert, 2020. "What does someone's gender identity signal to employers?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 753-777, March.
    7. Davide Costa, 2023. "Transgender Health between Barriers: A Scoping Review and Integrated Strategies," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-29, May.
    8. Danya Lagos, 2018. "Looking at Population Health Beyond “Male” and “Female”: Implications of Transgender Identity and Gender Nonconformity for Population Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2097-2117, December.
    9. Travis Campbell & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2022. "Health insurance coverage and health outcomes among transgender adults in the United States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 973-992, June.
    10. Ahmad, Husnain F & Banuri, Sheheryar & Bokhari, Farasat, 2024. "Discrimination in healthcare: A field experiment with Pakistan's transgender community," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Shanna K. Kattari & Leonardo Kattari & Ian Johnson & Ashley Lacombe-Duncan & Brayden A. Misiolek, 2020. "Differential Experiences of Mental Health among Trans/Gender Diverse Adults in Michigan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Sari L Reisner & Jaclyn M W Hughto, 2019. "Comparing the health of non-binary and binary transgender adults in a statewide non-probability sample," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-20, August.
    13. Azam, Anahita & Hendrickx, Jef & Adriaenssens, Stef, 2021. "Estimating the Prostitution Population in the Netherlands and Belgium: A Capture-Recapture Application to Online Data," MPRA Paper 110505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Zia Ullah & Esra AlDhaen & Rana Tahir Naveed & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Tasawar Abdul Hamid & Heesup Han, 2021. "Towards Making an Invisible Diversity Visible: A Study of Socially Structured Barriers for Purple Collar Employees in the Workplace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Hiroyuki Yamada & Yuki Kanayama & Kanako Yoshikawa & Kyaw Wai Aung, 2023. "Risk attitude, risky behaviour and price determination in the sex market: A case study of Yangon, Myanmar," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 665-691, December.
    16. Xu, Chen & Gong, Xingying & Fu, Wanyan & Xu, Yanjun & Xu, Haiyan & Chen, Wenjing & Li, Min, 2020. "The role of career adaptability and resilience in mental health problems in Chinese adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Kia, Hannah & MacKinnon, Kinnon Ross & Abramovich, Alex & Bonato, Sarah, 2021. "Peer support as a protective factor against suicide in trans populations: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    18. Rachel Jewkes & Minja Milovanovic & Kennedy Otwombe & Esnat Chirwa & Khuthadzo Hlongwane & Naomi Hill & Venice Mbowane & Mokgadi Matuludi & Kathryn Hopkins & Glenda Gray & Jenny Coetzee, 2021. "Intersections of Sex Work, Mental Ill-Health, IPV and Other Violence Experienced by Female Sex Workers: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Community-Centric National Study in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-13, November.
    19. Katie Hail-Jares & Ruth C F Chang & Sugy Choi & Huang Zheng & Na He & Z Jennifer Huang, 2015. "Intimate-Partner and Client-Initiated Violence among Female Street-Based Sex Workers in China: Does a Support Network Help?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-16, September.
    20. Deepak Sartaj & Vijay Krishnan & Ravindra Rao & Atul Ambekar & Neeraj Dhingra & Pratap Sharan, 2021. "Mental illnesses and related vulnerabilities in the Hijra community: A cross-sectional study from India," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(3), pages 290-297, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15908-:d:987667. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.