Correlates of feeding difficulties among children of Chinese transgender parents

BackgroundEnsuring proper early feeding for young children is crucial, as encountering feeding difficulties (FD) during this stage can give rise to a cascade of health problems, the repercussions of which may endure into late childhood and adolescence. Children raised by transgender parents may be at risk of encountering FD, however, there is no research conducted on Chinese transgender families.MethodsWe designed a cross-sectional survey in which the rate of FD and its influencing factors were investigated among transgender parents in China. A total of 446 Chinese transgender parents (average age 30.39 years) were included in the analysis. Logistic regression models were applied to investigate the influencing factors of FD among children of transgender parents. We also established structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the possible pathways among these factors and FD.ResultsThe rate of FD in children of Chinese transgender parents is 55.4%, with 34.5% having severe FD. Coming out after having a child (AOR = 2.26, 95%CI = 1.33 similar to 3.91), family violence (AOR = 1.06, 95%CI = 1.04 similar to 1.09), partner violence (AOR = 1.11, 95%CI = 1.08 similar to 1.15), no feeding education (accepting feeding education: AOR = 0.43, 95%CI = 0.25 similar to 0.74), being discriminated during seeking of childbearing health care (AOR = 1.99, 95%CI = 1.3 similar to 3.05), and poor relationship with partner (fair: AOR = 0.09, 95%CI = 0.03 similar to 0.22; good: AOR = 0.06, 95%CI = 0.02 similar to 0.15) are significantly associated with higher FD. Furthermore, through the pathway analysis, the indirect effects of education level (beta=-0.151), feeding education (beta = 0.145), and relationship with partner (beta=-0.196) on FD are observed.ConclusionsChildren of Chinese transgender parents showed a high FD rate. It is crucial to help build a better family and social environment for transgender families to reduce the FD and improve children's and adolescents' health.