Exploring the Interaction Effects of Gender Contentedness and Pubertal Timing on Adolescent Longitudinal Psychological and Behavioral Health Outcomes

Abstract

Background: Off-time pubertal timing (PT) and non-conforming gender identity have been reported to predict adverse health and well-being in adolescents. However, the joint effects of these two factors are less addressed. We aimed to investigate the main and interaction effects of gender identity, proxied by perceived gender contentedness (GC), and PT on longitudinal adolescent psychological and behavioral outcomes.Methods: Data (N = 1806, Mage = 13.3 ± 0.5 years) come from the Taiwan Youth Project, which prospectively followed a longitudinal cohort of Taiwanese junior high school students from 2000 (wave 1) to 2009 (wave 9). GC was self-reported at waves 1 and 9 in a binary response, and thus 4 GC trajectories were created. PT was defined using the Pubertal Developmental Scale, which mainly measured physical changes in puberty. Multiple linear regression analyses with gender stratification were applied to examine the effects of the GC trajectory and its interaction with PT on the outcomes.Results: A total of 1,562 subjects (86.5%) remained consistently satisfied with their gender, while the GC of 226 subjects (12.6%) changed at some point. Regression analyses found that males with gender dissatisfaction at wave 9 were likely to engage in delinquent behavior, and females in this group were more likely to have lower self-esteem, as compared to those with consistent GC. The interaction effect between the GC trajectory and PT appeared to be associated with smoking and drinking only at wave 1.Conclusions: These findings indicate that healthcare professionals should concentrate on gender non-conforming individuals at early adolescence, navigating them toward a healthy adulthood.

The relationship between timing of onset of menarche and depressive symptoms from adolescence to adulthood

“…Our study did not find strong evidence for an association between early timing of menarche and depressive symptoms in adulthood, which was consistent with a recent umbrella review (Lee et al, 2022) and prospective (Boden et al, 2011;Gaysina et al, 2015;Goering and Mrug, 2022;Kuo et al, 2021;Natsuaki et al, 2009;Opoliner et al, 2014;Senia et al, 2018), and retrospective studies (Herva et al, 2004;Kim et al, 2023). However, this finding was inconsistent with other prospective studies (Copeland et al, 2010;Graber et al, 2004;Mendle et al, 2018) and a retrospective study, which report evidence of a persisting effect into adulthood (Beltz, 2018).…”

Development of Gender Non-Contentedness During Adolescence and Early Adulthood

“…A majority of adolescents (78%) indicated to never experience any gender non-contentedness. This is mostly in line with existing literature, which found that 87% of a sample of Taiwanese junior high school students were satisfied with their gender and that 90% of a sample of 9-10-year-olds from the Unites States never reported a wish to be of the other gender (Kuo et al, 2021;Potter et al, 2021).…”

“…In addition, in the current sample we found that a relatively large percentage (19%) of young adolescents reported gender non-contentedness in adolescence, but not in early adulthood. This is a larger percentage than found by Kuo et al’s ( 2021 ) study, who reported a group (8% of 1806 children) who experienced gender dissatisfaction around age 13, but not anymore around age 22. The larger percentage of individuals with temporary, declining gender dissatisfaction in our sample might be explained by the wider age range (11–26 years) of the TRAILS sample.…”

“…A recent study in a population sample of US American 10- to 11-year-olds found that around 9% of the children reported some degree of gender non-contentedness, as measured by the question “How much have you had the wish to be a < girl/boy > ?,” with 5 answer options ranging from rarely to always (Potter et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, in a Taiwanese sample ( n = 1806) where gender contentedness was assessed with the question “Are you satisfied with your own gender?,” rated on a 4-point Likert scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 4 (very satisfied)), 14% reported dissatisfaction (very dissatisfied and dissatisfied) with their gender at one point during development (at age 13, or age 22, or both) (Kuo et al, 2021 ).…”

“…General population studies on the developmental trajectories of gender non-contentedness throughout adolescence are scarce. Existing population-based studies on gender non-contentedness in adolescence have been cross-sectional (e.g., Potter et al, 2021 ) or only contained one follow-up (e.g., Kuo et al, 2021 ). In the Taiwanese sample, 87% never reported any dissatisfaction, 8% reported dissatisfaction at age 13 but not at age 22, 5% at age 22 but not at age 13 and 1% reported persistent dissatisfaction.…”