TransPop, United States, 2016-2018 (ICPSR 37938)

Version Date: Jun 23, 2021 View help for published

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Ilan H. Meyer, Williams Institute, University of California Los Angeles

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37938.v1

Version V1

Slide tabs to view more

The TransPop study is the first national probability sample of transgender individuals in the United States (it also includes a comparative cisgender sample). A primary goal of this study was to provide researchers with a representative sample of transgender people in the United States. The study examines a variety of health-relevant domains including health outcomes and health behaviors, experiences with interpersonal and institutional discrimination, identity, transition-related experiences, and basic demographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, religion, political party affiliation, marital status, employment, income, location, sex, gender, and education).

Co-investigators (in alphabetical order): Walter O. Bockting, Ph.D. (Columbia University); Jody L. Herman, Ph.D. (UCLA); Sari L. Reisner, Ph.D. (Harvard University and The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health).

Meyer, Ilan H. TransPop, United States, 2016-2018. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-06-23. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37938.v1

Export Citation:

  • RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
  • EndNote
United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD090468, R01HD078526), United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Office of Research on Women's Health

City

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, this data collection is restricted from general dissemination. To obtain this file, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement in accordance with existing ICPSR servicing policies.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Hide

2016 -- 2018
2016-04 -- 2016-08, 2017-06 -- 2018-12, 2018-02-19 -- 2018-02-23, 2018-11-12 -- 2018-12-10
  1. For further information, please see the TransPop website.
  2. For further information on TransPop's sister study, please see Generations: A Study of the Life and Health of LGB People in a Changing Society (ICPSR 37166).
Hide

This study is the first national probability sample of transgender individuals in the U.S. and thus will be provide a more accurate and detailed picture of the issues faced by transgender people. To date, what researchers know about the transgender population comes from studies that do not use random selection methods. While those studies provided valuable information about transgender lives, they may not accurately represent the population. With a probability sample, this study provides researchers and policy makers with unbiased estimates about demographics, health outcomes and well-being, and health care needs of the transgender population, which will be crucial for designing evidence-based public health and policy interventions.

TransPop Study aims to...

  • Describe demographic parameters of the U.S. transgender population, such as race/ethnicity, age, gender identity, education, employment, etc.
  • Describe basic health outcomes and health behaviors, such as health status, health care access, quality of life, etc.
  • Describe experiences of transgender people with interpersonal and institutional discrimination in areas such as healthcare, employment, housing, etc.
  • Describe transgender identity history and transition-related experiences.

Two data sources contribute to the TransPop study. The first source is the TransPop survey, which was administered to transgender people, including gender nonbinary people who identify as transgender (but not gender nonbinary individuals who did not identify as transgender). The second data source includes a national probability sample of cisgender respondents, collected for comparison to the TransPop sample. The transgender and cisgender data sources were combined to create one dataset that includes both samples. This dataset is described in more detail on page 5 of the User Guide.

TransPop Sample:

Period 1:

The Period 1 sample was recruited between April 2016 and August 2016. In total, 149,593 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study, of which 185 (0.12%) were classified as transgender and eligible to participate in the study. Of those eligible, 136 (73.5%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 56 (41.2%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 30.3% (among those initially eligible).

Period 2:

The Period 2 sample was recruited between June 2017 and December 2018. In total, 432,251 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study, of which 929 (0.21%) were classified as transgender and eligible to participate in the study. Of those eligible, 668 (71.9%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 270 (40.4%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 28.7% (among those initially eligible). The final TransPop sample size is 274.

Cisgender Sample:

The cisgender sample was recruited between February 19-23, 2018 and November 12- December 10, 2018. In total, 4,020 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study. In total, 87.6% (N = 3,523) were eligible to participate based on the final eligibility criteria. Of those eligible, 2,548 (72.3%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 1,184 (46.7%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 33.6% (among those initially eligible). Of these, 22 respondents were dropped due to missing data leaving a final sample size of 1,162.

Further sampling information, including demographics, can be found on pages 14-20 of the user guide.

Cross-sectional

Transgender and cisgender adults age 18 and above who live in the U.S.

Individual

Variables include demographic information, community characteristics, sexual attraction and activity, other's perception of respondent's gender, interest in and access to gender-affirming treatment, health care access and general health status, mental health, violence victimization, discrimination, employment, housing, and other general questions about the transgender experience. Some variables primarily relevant to transgender respondents are omitted from the cisgender data.

The Period 1 sample was recruited between April 2016 and August 2016. In total, 149,593 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study, of which 185 (0.12%) were classified as transgender and eligible to participate in the study. Of those eligible, 136 (73.5%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 56 (41.2%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 30.3% (among those initially eligible).

The Period 2 sample was recruited between June 2017 and December 2018. In total, 432,251 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study, of which 929 (0.21%) were classified as transgender and eligible to participate in the study. Of those eligible, 668 (71.9%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 270 (40.4%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 28.7% (among those initially eligible).

The final TransPop sample size is 274. The cisgender sample was recruited between February 19-23, 2018 and November 12- December 10, 2018. In total, 4,020 participants were screened by Gallup for inclusion in the study. In total, 87.6% (N = 3,523) were eligible to participate based on the final eligibility criteria. Of those eligible, 2,548 (72.3%) agreed to participate in the survey and of those, 1,184 (46.7%) completed the survey, for a total response rate of 33.6% (among those initially eligible). Of these, 22 respondents were dropped due to missing data leaving a final sample size of 1,162.

Several items from the TransPop study are part of validated scales, designed to measure constructs relevant to identity, stress, and health. Each of the scales within the TransPop survey have been calculated from individual variables, according to published instructions, detailed below. Two calculated variables are included in the dataset for each of the scales: an un-imputed version and an imputed version. The unimputed version has missing values for participants who were missing on one or more items that make up the scale. The imputed variable has no missing values. The steps taken to create each scale are described on page 26 of the Survey Methods document.

These scales include:

  • Social Well-being
  • Satisfaction with life
  • Multi-group ethnic identity
  • Community connectedness
  • Non-affirmation of gender identity (transgender sample only)
  • Healthcare stereotype threat (Transgender sample only)
  • Psychological Distress, Kessler-6
  • Alcohol Use (AUDIT-C)
  • Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT)
  • Internalized transphobia (Transgender sample only)
  • Everyday discrimination
  • Chronic strains
  • Childhood gender nonconformity
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
  • Gender identity non-disclosure (Transgender sample only)
  • Negative expectations of the future (Transgender sample only)
  • Social support

Hide

2021-06-23

2021-06-23 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Performed consistency checks.
  • Created online analysis version with question text.
  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Hide

Both the TransPop and Cisgender datasets have the same variable named WEIGHT as the weighting variable. The combination datasets have a set of three weight variables (WEIGHT_TRANSPOP, WEIGHT_CISGENDER, WEIGHT_CISGENDER_TRANSPOP). The results will be representative of the sample when the weight is applied. Pages 41 and 42 of the user guide contain instructions that detail how to apply the final sample weight using Stata or SPSS.

Hide

Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.