Trans Youth Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering in Trump 2.0. So Are Their Affirming Parents

The job of parents has always been to keep their children as safe as possible, but what happens when an entire presidential administration has made your family the target of its political animus? For parents of transgender children, this question isn’t a hypothetical nightmare scenario; it’s their reality.Since assuming office for the second time in 2025, President Donald Trump has passed numerous executive orders in an attempt to limit trans rights, seeking to redefine gender at a federal level and taking aim at transition-related healthcare for youth. But the impact of these right-wing attacks doesn’t stop at those directly implicated. Researchers have found that the Trump administration's myriad attacks on their healthcare, bathroom use, athletic participation, and right to exist in public have had tangible negative consequences for parents of trans children. A new study from researchers at Princeton University and the University of Washington published in a recent issue of the academic journal Psychological Science found that the mental health of parents of trans children sharply declined following the 2024 election. Analyzing data from a sample of 160 children between 12 and 17 — 73 of whom identified as trans or nonbinary and 87 as cisgender — and their parents gathered between 2022 to 2024 and comparing it to data gathered in the seven weeks following Trump’s second inauguration, researchers compared the mental health of all parties. The researchers acknowledged the limitations of the study’s sample, as the majority of participants were white, well-educated, and earned a high income. In their analysis, researchers saw “significant declines in the mental health and well-being” of parents of trans children compared to those with cis children. Prior to the election, parents across both groups reported similar levels of depression or positive emotions. In the seven weeks following Trump’s inauguration, parents of trans kids reported higher lev