Childhood social gender transition and psychosocial well-being: A comparison to cisgender gender-variant children.

Abstract

There is increasing interest regarding best practice for promoting well-being among gender-variant children. Social gender transition (e.g., name, pronoun, clothing changes) may benefit gender-variant children who desire to be of a gender that does not align with their birth-assigned sex. This study examined psychosocial challenges experienced by socially transitioned children and cisgender (i.e., birth-assigned sex and gender identity align) gender-variant children. Method: We used data from published samples of gender-variant children (N ϭ 266) reporting psychosocial well-being using the Child Behavior Checklist or similar measures. A statistical bootstrapping approach was used to control for birth-assigned sex, age, and degree of gender variance when comparing cisgender gender-variant (CGV) and socially transitioned children described as being supported in their gender identities. Within the CGV sample, we examined parental attitudes toward childhood gender variance, as well as correlations between these parental attitudes and peer relations with children's psychological well-being. Results: There was little evidence that psychosocial well-being varied in relation to gender transition status. Parents of CGV children were generally accepting of childhood gender variance, but only poor peer relations predicted lower psychological well-being among these children. Conclusion: Socially transitioned children appear to experience similar levels of psychosocial challenges as CGV children. While further research is needed to evaluate possible effects of childhood social gender transition on well-being, this study suggests experiences of psychosocial challenges among gender-variant children require monitoring irrespective of transition status, and relationships with peers may be especially important to consider.

Not social transition status, but peer relations and family functioning predict psychological functioning in a German clinical sample of children with Gender Dysphoria

“…Hence, the results are in contrast with the most prominent results so far provided by Olson et al (2016), who argued that a complete social transition in childhood may lead to improved psychological functioning. Another recent study comparing transgender children who had completely transitioned to gender variant children who had not transitioned found that PPR, but not transition status, predicted psychological functioning (Wong et al, 2019). Likewise, our study found that, social support in general (from family and peers), but not necessarily in terms of affirming one’s child gender status, plays a role for the psychological outcomes.…”

“…In contrast to the US-American studies from Durwood et al (2017), Olson et al (2016) and Wong et al (2019), most clinical European studies report higher levels of psychological problems in clinical samples of both children and adolescents with a GD diagnosis (e.g. Cohen-Kettenis et al, 2003;de Vries et al, 2016;Steensma et al, 2013Steensma et al, , 2014.…”

“…Yet, the comparison of depression and anxiety measures in the statistical model among participants and controls in the study by Olson et al (2016) did not justify the conclusion that a social transition was directly linked to better psychological functioning outcomes. In contrast, the comparison of psychological functioning in socially transitioned children versus cisgendered gender-variant children by Wong et al (2019) provide evidence for similar levels of behavioral problems regardless of their transition status. This study assessed different online assessed community samples of gender-variant children and highlights the importance of peer relationships for psychological well-being, instead of the social transition status or the degree of parental acceptance towards a child’s gender experience.…”

“…However, they often transition socially from one gender to another during childhood (Coleman et al, 2012). This reversible nonmedical step towards a life in the identified gender may include changing one’s name or pronoun, being introduced as the experienced gender in public, as well as gender typical appearance in terms of e.g., hair length and clothing (Steensma et al, 2013; Wong et al, 2019).…”

“…To this date, the possible benefits or disadvantages of an “early” social transition for a child’s future development are among the most controversially discussed topics in Transgender Health Care (Coleman et al, 2012; Giordano, 2019; Steensma & Cohen-Kettenis, 2015; Wong et al, 2019); especially bearing in mind the developmental trajectories of persistence versus desistence into adolescence and adulthood (Ristori & Steensma, 2016). Children with either a GD diagnosis or so-called gender nonconforming or gender variant experiences often do not continue to experience a clinical GD as adolescents and adults (Ristori & Steensma, 2016; Steensma et al, 2013).…”