Current Events > Study finds very few trans children changed their minds after 5 years

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Young children who transition to a new gender with social changes taking on new names, pronouns, haircuts and clothing are likely to continue identifying as that gender five years later, according to a report published on Wednesday, the first study of its kind.

The data come from the Trans Youth Project, a well-known effort following 317 children across the United States and Canada who underwent a so-called social transition between ages of 3 and 12. Participants transitioned, on average, at age 6.5.

The vast majority of the group still identified with their new gender five years later, according to the study, and many had begun hormonal medications in adolescence to prompt biological changes to align with their gender identities. The study found that 2.5 percent of the group had reverted to identifying as the gender they were assigned at birth.

As tension mounts in courtrooms and statehouses across the country about the appropriate health care for transgender children, theres been little hard data to draw on about their long-term development. The new study provides one of the first large data sets on this group. The researchers plan to continue following this cohort for 20 years after their social transitions began.

Theres this sort of idea that the kids are going to be starting those things and that theyre going to change their minds, said Kristina Olson, a psychologist at Princeton University who led the study. And at least in our sample, were not finding that.

Dr. Olson and other researchers pointed out, however, that the study may not generalize to all transgender children. Two-thirds of the participants were white, for example, and the parents tended to have higher incomes and more education than the general population. All of the parents were supportive enough to facilitate full social transitions.

And because the study began nearly a decade ago, its unclear whether it reflects the patterns of today, when many more children are identifying as trans. Two-thirds of the studys participants were transgender girls who were assigned boys at birth. But in the past few years, youth gender clinics worldwide have reported a swell of adolescent patients assigned girls at birth who had recently identified as trans boys or nonbinary.

This group also has a high rate of mental health concerns, including autism and ADHD, noted Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who specializes in the care of transgender children. Thats really the group Im most concerned about these days, she said.

I would say that this study tells us nothing about those kids, Dr. Leeper added. Its just that different.

The Trans Youth Project researchers began recruiting participants in 2013, traveling to more than 40 states and two Canadian provinces to interview families. Such in-depth data is rare in this type of research, which is often sourced from online surveys or through children referred to specific gender clinics, who are typically older and often from more limited geographic areas.

Previously published work from the project showed that the children who were supported by their parents during social transitions were roughly equal to non-transgender children in terms of rates of depression, with slightly elevated rates of anxiety.

The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, followed this cohort as they reached a milestone roughly five years out from their initial social transitions. The study found that 94 percent of the group still identified as transgender five years later. Another 3.5 percent identified as nonbinary, meaning they did not identify as boys or girls. That label wasnt as widely used when the researchers began the study as it is today.

By the end of the study period, in 2020, 60 percent of the children had started taking either puberty-blocking drugs or hormones. The researchers are still collecting data about how many of the teenage participants had undergone gender surgeries, Dr. Olson said.

Eight children, or 2.5 percent, had switched back to the gender they were assigned at birth. Seven of them had socially transitioned before the age of 6 and transitioned back before the age of 9. The eighth child, at 11 years old, reverted after starting on puberty-blocking drugs.

Research from the 1990s and 2000s had suggested that many children diagnosed with gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder (a psychological diagnosis that no longer exists) would resolve their gender difficulties after puberty, typically by ages 10 to 13. Some of those earlier studies have been criticized because the childrens doctors advised their parents to steer them away from a transgender identity.

In the decades since that work was done, societal acceptance of gender diversity has grown, medical practice has shifted and the number of transgender children has increased significantly.

For those reasons, it doesnt make sense to compare the new study with older research, said Russ Toomey, a professor of family studies and human development at the University of Arizona.

Its really comparing apples to oranges, Dr. Toomey said. Many of the children in the earlier studies were effeminate boys whose parents were upset about their behavior, they said. Many of these kids in these early studies that are frequently cited were never even labeling themselves or being labeled as transgender.

Transphobes don't care about facts, they already made up their minds and refuse to change it for the better

Transphobes don't care about facts, they already made up their minds and refuse to change it for the better

Transphobes don't care about facts, they already made up their minds and refuse to change it for the better

Can't the same argument be made for the opposite?

This group also has a high rate of mental health concerns, including autism and ADHD, noted Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who specializes in the care of transgender children. Thats really the group Im most concerned about these days, she said.

This trans people are mostly autistic rhetoric needs to fuck off.

Can't the same argument be made for the opposite?

This group also has a high rate of mental health concerns, including autism and ADHD, noted Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who specializes in the care of transgender children. Thats really the group Im most concerned about these days, she said.

This trans people are mostly autistic rhetoric needs to fuck off.

The goalposts move quickly.

Transphobes don't care about facts, they already made up their minds and refuse to change it for the better

This group also has a high rate of mental health concerns, including autism and ADHD, noted Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who specializes in the care of transgender children. Thats really the group Im most concerned about these days, she said.

This trans people are mostly autistic rhetoric needs to fuck off.

https://twitter.com/deportablediz/status/1522233639349719041

This group also has a high rate of mental health concerns, including autism and ADHD, noted Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who specializes in the care of transgender children. Thats really the group Im most concerned about these days, she said.

This trans people are mostly autistic rhetoric needs to fuck off.

You seriously need to learn how to process information properly.

Reread what you've quoted, but this time, do so, slowly.

The group being referred to are those with mental health concerns. Some of these concerns included autism and ADHD.

And I wonder how many of those 2.5% were browbeaten into changing their minds by society. Or hell just beaten into it. We know how this song and dance goes.

I think the odds of a trans child being "beaten into it" are extremely low as they would have needed parental consent to begin in the first place

I think the odds of a trans child being "beaten into it" are extremely low as they would have needed parental consent to begin in the first place

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