Housing and food stress among transgender adults in the United States

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess housing and food-related stress in transgender and cisgender adults in the United States.

Methods: Data from the 2014 and 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed for 53,060 adults who responded to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity module and the Social Context module. We used multiple logistic regression to assess the association of gender identity with housing and food-related stress.

Results: There were no significant differences by gender identity in the odds of experiencing housing or food-related stress. A sensitivity analysis revealed that with a broader definition of food-related stress, transgender individuals had higher odds of experiencing food-related stress compared with cisgender individuals. The sample of transgender individuals who experienced food-related stress were young, single, racially diverse, sexual minorities, and the majority had a high school degree or less. Similarly, most transgender individuals who experienced housing-related stress were single, sexual minorities, and had a high school degree or less.

Conclusions: More precise assessments of housing and food insecurity among probability-based samples of transgender individuals are needed to fully understand housing and food-related instability and the stress associated with these experiences.

Keywords: Food insecurity; Housing; Social determinants of health; Transgender persons.