(PS7-A6) Gender Identity and Expression in Relation to Experiences of Cyberbullying in Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: A Population-based Study

Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals are significantly more likely to experience negative interpersonal events, including discrimination and trauma, compared with cisgender peers and have been recognized as a health disparity population. Despite longstanding recognition of this disparity, several limitations characterize the existing research on TGNC individuals. First, past research has predominantly focused on White adults. Relatively few studies have examined experiences of TGNC youth across different racial and ethnic minority populations, also recognized as health disparity populations by the NIH. Examination of experiences of discrimination in non-White gender minority individuals is needed to evaluate how these experience impact mental health outcomes among individuals with multiple minority identities. The relative lack of studies in this area focusing specifically on youth is another important limitation given the adverse effects of cyberbullying in youth during this particularly critical period of development. The lack of studies with gender, racial, and ethnic minority youth likely exists in part because of the challenge of drawing large enough samples for adequately powered analysis observing the distinction between multiple minority identities. We address these limitations and challenges by analyzing data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS), a large population-based study of school-aged children in Minnesota (n = 116,432; M_age = 14.82, SD = 3.13; 50.22% assigned female at birth). In terms of racial composition of the study sample, 74.96% identified as White, 1.90% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 7.26% Asian, 9.31% Black, and 6.57% multi-racial. In terms of ethnicity, 9.14% of participants identified as Hispanic, 22.63% other-minority ethnicity, and 68.23% non-minority ethnicity. The MSS assessed gender identity and gender expression non-conformity in youth in grades 8 and above and grades 9 and above, respectively. We compared experiences of cyberbullying among TGNC racial/ethnic minority youth compared with non-TGNC same-race/ethnicity peers, with age and use of free or reduced lunch (as an index of SES) covaried in all analyses. Across racial and ethnic minority groups, regardless of whether gender identity or gender expression was used to define TGNC status, TGNC youth were generally more likely to experience cyberbullying. For gender identity, significant associations varied from OR = 2.26 for Hispanic youth to 4.35 for Black youth. For gender expression, significant associations varied from OR = 1.24 for Hispanic youth to 1.64 for Black. These results support the importance of studying gender identity and expression in relation to experiences of cyberbullying across different racial and ethnic identities, and they point to the need for research on risk and resilience factors relevant to this relation that are unique to each racial and ethnic minority identity, so as to inform culturally tailored strategies to prevent cyberbullying in multiply marginalized populations.