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A first of its kind study by Schulich Medicine & Dentistry researchers removes a controversial theory of gender dysphoria that activists and experts have called inaccurate and harmful to transgender people.
Greta Bauer, Ph.D., and her team at Trans Youth CAN! found no evidence in a recent study that supports the idea of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) – a proposed condition often used as an argument against providing gender-confirming medical care to young people.
“It affects policy, and there is no research on any actual adolescents who support this hypothesis,” said Bauer, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair.
Gender dysphoria is the state of feeling that one’s gender identity is in conflict with the gender they were assigned at birth.
In 2018, researchers in the United States claimed that ROGD was a unique pathway in which adolescents going through puberty suddenly experienced gender dysphoria affected by social and peer infection along with other factors, including poor mental health or parent-child conflict.
Bauer said the paper has “got its own life” in the three years since its publication, arguing that young people’s gender identity could be influenced by their queer peers, promoting the notion that young people can identify as trans or non-transgender binary as part of a temporary phase.
“The ROGD hypothesis perpetuates the fear that says, ‘you should not let your children hang out with transgender people.’ It’s harmful,” Bauer said. “Socially, it’s a really awful message and exclusion for young people who are trans or non-binary.”
The 2018 survey – conducted through an online survey among parents – also sparked concerns about the provision of gender-confirming medical care to young people, for fear it could be regretted later in life.
While many have aimed at the methods of the study, a test of the theory using clinical data from actual teens and teens had never been completed until now.
Results from Trans Youth CAN! A study of young people referred to blockers or hormones at 10 clinics in Canada – was recently published in Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers analyzed clinical data from 173 Canadian trans-adolescents seen in 10 gender clinics. They tested for 13 factors that would be consistent with the ROGD hypothesis, including social infectious factors such as the influence of online groups, as well as variables related to mental health and maladaptive coping.
Bauer and her team found nothing in their analysis that supports rapidly occurring gender dysphoria as a distinct clinical phenomenon.
Recent knowledge about gender was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms, mental disorders, previous diagnosis of mental health or neurodevelopmental disorders, gender dysphoria symptoms, self-harm, or suicide attempts in the past year.
Social factors, including having gender-supportive online friends, general support from online or trans friends, and gender support from parents also did not have a significant impact on gender identity, the data showed.
In a finding directly contrary to the ROGB hypothesis, newer gender knowledge was actually associated with lower anxiety and a lower incidence of marijuana use.
“This research is the first to show that recent knowledge about gender was not associated with having online friends, trans friends or mental health issues,” said Dr. Margaret Lawson, Trans Youth CAN!’S co-principal investigator and professor of pediatrics. at the University of Ottawa. “These results are extremely important because they remove a theory that had been circulated without evidence.”
Many trans teens and adults report having been aware of their gender identity at a young age, where about 80 percent knew their gender was different from that assigned at birth before age 14, Bauer said.
About 0.5 percent of the adult population is trans.
Puberty has long been understood as a period in which gender dysphoria often occurs first, but only a small proportion of transgender people receive gender-confirming care as adolescents.
“It’s important to ensure that the people who receive treatment will benefit from it,” Bauer said. “We want to make sure patients get what they need, that’s the importance of medical research.”
Bauer hopes her latest findings help clear up misconceptions about young people identifying as trans and seeking gender-confirming medical care.
“The benefits of being able to start treatment at a younger age are significant, it has a lot of benefits,” Bauer said. “We hope that by identifying and intervening at a younger age, we can prevent some of the psychological challenges we see in the adult trans society.”
“This research will help transgender people, like everyone else, be accepted for who they are,” Lawson added. “It will also help parents accept the gender of their young people, realizing that no one chooses to be transgender and no one can make anyone transgender. What transgender people need is acceptance and support from their families and communities.”
New study explores transgender youth experiences in Canada
Greta R. Bauer et al, Does clinical data from transgender teens support the phenomenon of “rapidly occurring gender dysphoria”? Journal of Pediatrics (2021). DOI: 10.1016 / j.jpeds.2021.11.020
Provided by the University of Western Ontario
Citation: Study removes harmful gender dysphoria myth (2021, December 10) retrieved December 10, 2021 from https://ift.tt/3dH7Las
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