NPR claiming increase in suicides after laws passed

[HumphreyCushionintheHouse]

I’m a British woman, living in the US, west coast. A couple of weeks ago. I was listening to NPR, and they had a segment on, saying that the number of trans teens attempting suicide has increased in states where so called Anti-trans laws had been passed.

NPR are not known for unbiased reporting when it comes to trans matter, which I know, so I looked up the segment to read it in detail. The study they reference claims that in 26 states where such laws were passed, there was an increase in attempts, especially right after the bills were passed.

The assumption is the attempt increases are directly related to the laws being put in place. How true would you say this was? Is it a social contagion type thing, where the idea is being put out there and acted upon?

BTW I am firmly GC, and not a fan of this type of fear mongering, and wondering what other make of this segment and study.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/09/25/nx-s1-5127347/more-trans-teens-attempted-suicide-after-states-passed-anti-trans-laws-a-study-shows

Screen prints of NPR page, if you don’t want to click the link.

Social contagion is a well known factor in suicide, hence the Samaritans media guidelines:

There is abundant international evidence that media reporting and portrayal of suicide can be extremely influential. Poor media practice can cause further loss of life, especially in more vulnerable groups such as the young and people with mental health problems. On the other hand, careful and responsible media handling of this important issue can contribute to suicide prevention

Professor Keith Hawton, Director, Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford
www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/media-guidelines/media-guidelines-reporting-suicide/

This is a propaganda piece aimed at perpetuating the idea that trans people will all kill themselves unless we give up all single sex women only facilities.

"The Trevor Project" is a well known spin doctor.

That too.

Which study, who wrote it and who peer reviewed it?

The Trevor Project get millions of government funding so it is in their interest to carry on this tall tale.

Bravo on you listening to NPR though. I can't take more than 5 minutes of it.

Remember in reality what the phrase "passing anti-trans laws" actually means is "keeping in place the already existing right to single sex spaces".

There is an awful lot of catastrophising going on in the trans movement, making already mentally and emotionally unstable or vulnerable people even more so. Everything is perceived as all or nothing.

Remember in reality what the phrase "passing anti-trans laws" actually means is "keeping in place the already existing right to single sex spaces".

Yes, or "not allowing child transitioning"

The study in Nature. Haven't had a chance to look yet.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01979-5.epdf?sharingtoken=EbX7LsH7-AF5n99850vpnNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PNveFlXHsicuqelg3jvg1Wcsju1CXHxspC9onbX6frEcU1-J5M25Ml5piLTNjBr959LGK7ejPr20VtTVSb18ArMlJnGNGgZYyU9CJQoJuUjN01H4VVGluDqOOepnWIgA%3D

Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t know who the Trevor Project, so I’m now looking into them to see what we’re dealing with.

this is the study https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01979-5.epdf?sharing_token=EbX7LsH7-AF5n99850vpnNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PNveFlXHsicuqelg3jvg1Wcsju1CXHxspC9onbX6frEcU1-J5M25Ml5piLTNjBr959LGK7ejPr20VtTVSb18ArMlJnGNGgZYyU9CJQoJuUjN01H4VVGluDqO_epnWIg_A%3D

The Trevor Project is an organisation that seems to ignore the guidelines in reporting about suicide and suicide attempts. I would also not trust their analysis of any research the Trevor Project does because I have found them to be rather free from accuracy in the analysis of their own studies.

The data comes from self reporting of surveys, which is known to have major limitations. Participants were recruited online.

NPR will spread misinformation for the purposes of causing harm to those they consider to be on the wrong side of the political divide:

https://thepostmillennial.com/npr-forced-to-apologize-after-boosting-media-matters-lie-that-national-review-editor-used-racial-slur

"Hey young impressionable teenager. Do you feel suicidal? Lots of people like you do feel suicidal, there's lots of reasons to feel suicidal. The government/authorities hate you and lots of people want you to suffer and hate you. I bet that makes you feel sad. Don't go outside it's not safe. Lots of people would be suicidal in your position. After all, if you don't get XY done you will be doomed forever and they don't want to let you do XY. Here are some stories of brave people who committed suicide. Do you feel suicidal? " etc etc

It really is a mystery.

If there has been an increase I'd blame the people and organisations telling mentally vulnerable children and young people

1. that they're trans
2. that trans people kill themselves
3. that everyone hates them

Daniel Radcliffe is a big supporter of the Trevor Project.

Were they incentivised like last survey? I would assume so.

Also obviously this is suicide ideation/attempts rather than completed suicides. In previous surveys the limitations of this data have been clearly acknowledged.

Daniel Radcliffe 🤣
Thanks for brightening up such a dark thread topic

I just had a quick look at the site and the new CEO of the Trevor Project identifies as a black non binary lesbian (they, she, he pronouns). Does that mean they/she/he doesn’t mind or something else?

I'm sure they do mind, whilst simultaneously not being clear what their/her/his demands are

This is published in Nature Human Behaviour which is a rigorous scientific journal. They have pretty tough reviews so this can't be dismissed easily. However, the limitation of the self selected sample and self report data is still a big one. And they can't show if the problem is (a) the laws, most of which were about women's sport or (b) the fuss and publicity around the laws.

I could certainly believe that the publicity around these issues makes people who have a strong personal interest feel miserable. And things would be better if this issue was not so strongly political.

Was there an epidemic in the centuries before trans activism, or is it a very recent phenomenon?

Nature, and its subsidiary journals are just as much susceptible to problems with the peer review process as any other journals. It also costs thousands of dollars to submit your article, particularly for open access, with concerns that people can essentially “buy” a place in the journal, with little incentive to reject it. I would instantly question why a questionnaire survey article has been deemed good enough to warrant publication, and that’s without even addressing the obvious flaws in the article itself.

you don't pay money to submit to Nature Human Behaviour. you do pay to publish when the article is accepted. But with an 80-90% rejection rate, it is not plausible or easy to buy a place in this journal.

This study had over 60,000 people responding to their survey over multiple time points. It is not just a case of asking 100 people on a random website for their opinion.