Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have found through two peer-reviewed papers that transgender adolescents are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts, and rely on substance abuse, than the general population.

A frightening amount of teenagers already have fallen victim to harmful thoughts and behaviors due to school, and the stress of growing up, but for transgender students, it can be more than stress and school, with bullying and ridiculing from their peers resulting in depression and suicide.

In some previous studies, 30% of transgender youth reported that they have attempted suicide, but now, there is representative data that canbe transferred into state wide general populations.

The studies found that 34% of transgender youths have reported suicidal thoughts in a year, which is twice as likely as the 19% of other, non transgender adolescents. Many of the students reported that the factors of victimization and hatred contributed to their indulgence in risky behavior. This victimization has also, in other studies, been linked to abusing substances at an earlier age than others.

Many studies and accounts from students over the years have shown that transgender youths are one of the most vulnerable, and commonly targeted, especially in schools, but this new data helps put this on a larger scale, and realize how much discrimination can affect the population.