Binge drinking disparities by gender identity, race, and ethnicity in California secondary schools

Our objective was to estimate disparities in binge drinking among secondary school students in California at the intersection of gender identity, race, and ethnicity, without aggregating racial and ethnic categories. We combined two years of the Statewide middle and high school California Healthy Kids Survey (n=951,995) and regressed past month binge drinking on gender identity (i.e., cisgender, transgender, or not sure of their gender identity), race (i.e., white, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or multiracial), and ethnicity (i.e., Hispanic/Latinx or non-Hispanic/Latinx), and their interaction. Transgender students had greater odds of reporting past month binge drinking than cisgender students, with greater magnitudes among students with minoritized racial or ethnic identities compared to non-Hispanic/Latinx white students. For example, among non-Hispanic/Latinx white students, transgender students had 1.3 times greater odds (AOR=1.30, 95% CI=1.17-1.55), whereas among Hispanic/Latinx Black or African American students, transgender students had 5.3 times greater odds (AOR=5.33, 95% CI=3.84-7.39) of reporting past month binge drinking than cisgender students. Transgender adolescents, particularly those with minoritized racial or ethnic identities, may be at disproportionate risk of binge drinking. Interventions that address systemic racism and cisgenderism from an intersectional perspective are needed.