Putting the "T" in LGBT: A Pilot Test of Questions to Identify Transgender People in the California Health Interview Survey
David Grant
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Matt Jans
UCLA
Royce Park
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Ninez Ponce
University of California Los Angeles
Jane Kil
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Gary Gates
UCLA School of Law
Bianca D. M. Wilson
UCLA School of Law
Jody L. Herman
UCLA School of Law
As a large population-based health survey of the nation's most diverse state, the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) provides relatively large samples of relatively rare population groups. Despite being the "T" in LGBT, transgender persons have been left out of CHIS and other population-health surveys. The combination of low prevalence (estimated at less than 1%) and varied definitions of the term "transgender" have led to assumptions that identifying transgender persons is difficult in general public health surveys. CHIS pilot tested four versions of gender identity questions in the final quarter of 2014. Versions were randomly assigned across approximately 3,000 respondents age 18 to 70. The pilot test was administered in English and Spanish and was conducted in production data collection, producing results that are direct estimates of the transgender population and a test of question wording effects. We present differences in transgender identification, missing data rates, and interview breakoffs across the four versions. Our pilot test results suggest that these questions can be successfully administered in population-health surveys.