HPC Seminar Series: Arielle Kuperberg

Description

Arielle Kuperberg, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and co-chair of the Council on Contemporary Families, will give a talk titled "Explaining Disparities in Health and Health Care Use Among Trans, Nonbinary, and Other Gender-Expansive College Students" for the Hopkins Population Center.

Abstract:

We examine a dataset of 4,423 college students, including 76 gender expansive (trans, nonbinary and intersex) students, collected at two U.S. universities in 2017 and 2021, to examine gender expansive students' self-reported health and health care use. We also examine potential explanations for disparities, including lower family financial and social support; mental health disparities; substance use and exercise differences; financial, housing and food insecurity; and health care avoidance. We find gender expansive students report worse health, more major medical problems, and were more likely to report delaying medical or dental care or using less medication than needed compared to cisgender students. Disparities in health were largely explained by disparities in financial, housing and food insecurity; mental health; exercise and substance use; and health care delays, with gaps in major medical problems completely explained by these factors. Family support and closeness with family did not explain disparities, and gaps in health care use remained even after accounting for economic and other disparities.