Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether anti-transgender rights legislation among state legislators is associated with increased suicide- and depression-related Internet searches. Employing a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design, we focused on bills that were introduced to...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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Series: | PLoS ONE |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279420 |
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author | George B Cunningham Nicholas M Watanabe Erin Buzuvis |
author_facet | George B Cunningham Nicholas M Watanabe Erin Buzuvis |
author_sort | George B Cunningham |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The purpose of this study was to examine whether anti-transgender rights legislation among state legislators is associated with increased suicide- and depression-related Internet searches. Employing a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design, we focused on bills that were introduced to state legislatures from July 2019 to July 2020. As our panel is constructed of 51 states/territories over a 52-week time frame, our final dataset is composed of 2,652 observations. Results showed that states' passing of anti-transgender rights bills were linked with suicide- and depression-related Internet searches. Second, introducing or debating the bills did not have an association with Internet searches. Third, the defeat of anti-transgender bills was linked with fewer depression-related searches. Finally, the LGBT context in the state affected the results: anti-transgender legislation had a particularly strong association with suicide-related Internet searches when the state had a high LGBT population density. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:18:13Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-2eb913406ebb4b8a836dd8308d2c572b |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1932-6203 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-11T04:18:13Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
record_format | Article |
series | PLoS ONE |
spelling | doaj.art-2eb913406ebb4b8a836dd8308d2c572b2022-12-31T05:31:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-011712e027942010.1371/journal.pone.0279420Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide.George B CunninghamNicholas M WatanabeErin BuzuvisThe purpose of this study was to examine whether anti-transgender rights legislation among state legislators is associated with increased suicide- and depression-related Internet searches. Employing a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design, we focused on bills that were introduced to state legislatures from July 2019 to July 2020. As our panel is constructed of 51 states/territories over a 52-week time frame, our final dataset is composed of 2,652 observations. Results showed that states' passing of anti-transgender rights bills were linked with suicide- and depression-related Internet searches. Second, introducing or debating the bills did not have an association with Internet searches. Third, the defeat of anti-transgender bills was linked with fewer depression-related searches. Finally, the LGBT context in the state affected the results: anti-transgender legislation had a particularly strong association with suicide-related Internet searches when the state had a high LGBT population density.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279420 |
spellingShingle | George B Cunningham Nicholas M Watanabe Erin Buzuvis Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. PLoS ONE |
title | Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. |
title_full | Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. |
title_fullStr | Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. |
title_full_unstemmed | Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. |
title_short | Anti-transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide. |
title_sort | anti transgender rights legislation and internet searches pertaining to depression and suicide |
url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279420 |
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