Childhood Gender Dysphoria Does Not Necessarily Lead to Adolescent Gender Dysphoria.
There is a common assumption, borderline myth, that childhood gender dysphoria (GD) is a good predictor of gender dysphoria in adolescents.
When adolescents begin expressing their gender identity, parents heavily rely on childhood expression of gender variance in their childhood as a confirming factor. Often, the absence of gender variance in childhood leads to conviction that the adolescent does not struggle with GD.
After all, how can they be transgender when there is no historical background to trace it back to childhood. This misconception, leads to delayed therapeutic and medical treatment many adolescents badly need.
Research tells us that most children with GD will no longer be gender dysphoric by adolescent or adulthood.
GD in childhood seems a better predictor of future sexual orientation than of persisting GD into adolescents (Ettener et al., 2016).
A longitudinal study of 879 Dutch boys and girls, assessed gender-variant behavior in childhood and sexual orientation in adulthood, 24 years later, when participants were 27-36 years of age (Steensma et al., 2013). The prevalence of homosexuality were 8.4-15.8 times higher in the childhood gender-variant subgroup, as compared to the childhood non-gender-variant subgroup (Steensma et al., 2013).
In follow-up studies into adolescence of children with GD the prevalence rates of a bisexual or homosexual orientation varied from 24% (Drummond et al., 2008) of 25 no longer gender-dysphoric natal girls to 56% (Wallien & Cohen-Kettenis, 2008) of 25 no longer gender-dysphoric natal boys.
These studies are a good indicator to help parents realize that childhood GD and adolescent GD are not necessarily linked. In other words, if your child is expressing gender-variance, it could simply be their future sexual orientation at play.
However, statistically, persistence of childhood GD that continuous into adolescents is strongly correlated with GD in adulthood (Drummond et al., 2008). Therefore, don’t just disregard your child’s expression of gender-variance. Be supportive. Be inquisitive. And if you observe continuous persistence, seek professional help.
For best predictor of persistence or desistance of childhood GD, the period between 10 and 13 years of age seems crucial. During this period, adolescents tend to separate into groups of boys and girls, further raising awareness of the experienced GD.
Most importantly, anticipated bodily changes of puberty become a reality. In fact, puberty almost always marks an onset of intensification of GD. In contrast to prepubertal children, it is recognized that, once puberty has started, GD rarely changes or deists (Cohen-Kettenis & Pfaffli, 2003; Zucker, 2006).
As a parent, if your child is expressing gender-variant behavior, it could mean various things. Your child could be experimenting with various gender expressions.
Perhaps their gender-variant behavior is an indication of their future sexual orientation. Or if it persists, and peaks during puberty, it is a pretty good predictor of GD.
You may find the following helpful:
How to Come Out to Children, Teens, and Adult Kids.
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REFERENCES & SOURCES
Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., & Pfaffin, F. (2003). Transgenderism and Intersexuality in Childhood and Adolescence (Vol. 46). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Drummond, K. D., Bradley, S. J., Peterson-Badali, M., & Zucker, K. J. (2008). A follow-up study of girls with gender ideinty disorder. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 34-45.
Ettner, R., Monstrey, S., & Coleman, E. (2016). Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery. Routledge. New York, NY.
Steensma, T.D., & McGuire, J.K., Kreukels, B.P., Beekman, A.J., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2013). Factors associated with desistnece and persistence of childhood gender dysphoria: A quantitative follow-up study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(6), 582-590.
Wallien, M.S., & Cohen-Kettenis, P.T. (2008). Psychoseual outcome of gender-dysphoric children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(12), 1413-1423.
Zucker, K. J. (2006). Gender Identity disorder. In D. A. Wolfe & E. J. Mash (Eds.), Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in Adolescents: Nature, Assessment, and Treatment (pp.535-562). New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
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