RESUMEN
Purpose: This study assessed public bathroom-related stressors and examined their association with depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among transgender individuals in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 557 South Korean transgender adults (age range: 19-60 years) conducted in October 2020. Participants were asked nine yes/no questions about whether they have ever experienced public bathroom-related stressors within the last 12 months. The responses were classified into three categories: "never experienced," "avoidant behaviors alone," and "victimization experiences." Results: The proportions of participants who reported "avoidant behaviors alone" and "victimization experiences" related to public bathroom use were 47.0% and 23.0%, respectively. Past-week prevalence of depressive symptoms was 70.7%, and past 12-month prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts was 63.0% and 19.8%, respectively. Compared with participants who "never experienced" public bathroom-related stressors, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was statistically significantly higher among those who reported "avoidant behaviors alone" (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07-1.40) and "victimization experiences" (aPR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.01-1.38), after adjusting for covariates, including gender perception by others. In the same adjusted model, however, no significant associations of public bathroom-related stressors with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts were observed. Conclusions: Given these findings showing that public bathroom-related stressors may negatively influence transgender adults' depressive symptoms, efforts are necessary to ensure their safe access to public bathrooms in South Korea. Furthermore, policy-level interventions are needed to eliminate stigma against transgender individuals, given that public bathroom-related stressors could be considered an indicator of broader anti-transgender stigma.
Asunto(s)
Cuartos de Baño , Personas Transgénero , Adulto , Estudios Transversales , Depresión/epidemiología , Humanos , Persona de Mediana Edad , República de Corea/epidemiología , Ideación Suicida , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
As humans become increasingly urban and spend more time inside the built environment, there will be increased interactions between humans and shared public surface microbiomes. Recent cultural changes in the United States have led to increased numbers of gender-neutral bathrooms. Given that bathroom surfaces are frequently sanitized, we used this increased availability of gender-neutral bathrooms to examine how single-gender or gender-neutral surfaces are recolonized with microbes. Given that male and female microbiomes vary, we hypothesized that rates of recolonization would differ between male, female and gender-neutral bathroom surfaces. We collected swabs from common hand-contacted surfaces in bathrooms and cultured microbes on selective and rich media to determine microbial abundance after cleaning. Recolonization was dominated by Gram-positive bacteria and was slowest on male, intermediate on female and fastest on gender-neutral surfaces. These results imply that gender-neutral surfaces approach normal climax microbial communities more quickly than single-gender bathrooms. SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Humans now spend substantial amount of time within the built environment, and as a consequence the human microbiome interacts frequently with indoor surfaces. Social changes are making gender-neutral public bathrooms more common, so it is important to study how humans and microbiomes interact with these bathroom surfaces. We found that the gender-neutral bathroom surfaces recolonize more quickly than single-gender, which suggests that there are more potential human-surface microbiome connections in these public spaces. These results will potentially add a new layer to our understanding of the interactions of humans, our microbiomes and how we design our built environment.