Psychological Attempts to Change a Person's Gender Identity From Transgender to Cisgender: Estimated Prevalence Across US States, 2015

Objectives. To examine exposure to psychological attempts to change a person's gender identity from transgender to cisgender (PACGI) among transgender people in the United States, lifetime and between the years 2010 and 2015, by US state. Methods. We obtained data from the 2015 US Transgender Survey, a cross-sectional nonprobability sample of 27 716 transgender people in the United States, to estimate the percentage exposed to PACGI in each US state. Results. Overall, 13.5% of the sample indicated lifetime exposure to PACGI, ranging across all US states from 9.4% (South Carolina) to 25.0% (Wyoming). The percentage of transgender adults in the United States reporting exposure to PACGI between 2010 and 2015 was 5% overall, and across all states ranged from 1.2% (Alaska) to 16.3% (South Dakota). Conclusions. Despite major medical organizations identifying PACGI as ineffective and unethical, 13.5% of transgender people in the United States reported lifetime exposure to this practice. Findings suggest that this practice has continued in every US state as recently as the period 2010 to 2015.