Reduced Mental Health and Well-Being in Parents of Transgender Youth Following the 2025 U.S. Presidential Inauguration

AI Summary

Executive orders after the 2025 presidential inauguration signalled diminished federal support for transgender youth and their families.
Longitudinal study spanning 2022 to 2025 compared mental health trajectories of 160 youth and 167 parents with cisgender counterparts.
Parents of transgender youth experienced significant declines in mental health and well-being relative to parents of cisgender youth; youth showed fewer changes.

AI Summary

Using a longitudinal design spanning 3 years prior to the inauguration (2022-2024) and 2 months surrounding the inauguration, we tested whether the mental health and well-being of U.S.-based transgender youth and their parents declined relative to that of cisgender youth and their parents in a sample that, on the whole, did not support the new administration (N = 160 youth, aged 12-17 years; N = 167 parents).

Across preregistered analyses, we observed significant declines in the mental health and well-being of parents of transgender youth compared to parents of cisgender youth; we observed fewer differences over time between transgender versus cisgender youth themselves.

Basic summary

Psychol Sci. 2026 Jul 21:9567976261461126. doi: 10.1177/09567976261461126. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The numerous executive orders directed at transgender youth in the weeks following the 2025 U.S. presidential inauguration were likely a signal to these youth-and their parents-that the federal government no longer supported them. Using a longitudinal design spanning 3 years prior to the inauguration (2022-2024) and 2 months surrounding the inauguration, we tested whether the mental health and well-being of U.S.-based transgender youth and their parents declined relative to that of cisgender youth and their parents in a sample that, on the whole, did not support the new administration (N = 160 youth, aged 12-17 years; N = 167 parents). Across preregistered analyses, we observed significant declines in the mental health and well-being of parents of transgender youth compared to parents of cisgender youth; we observed fewer differences over time between transgender versus cisgender youth themselves. Our findings identify an immediate potential cost of the current political environment for supportive parents of transgender youth.

PMID:42479964 | DOI:10.1177/09567976261461126

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