Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Transgender children who have socially transitioned, that is, who identify as the gender “opposite” their natal sex and are supported to live openly as that gender, are increasingly visible in society, yet we know nothing about their mental health. Previous work with children with gender identity disorder (GID; now termed gender dysphoria) has found remarkably high rates of anxiety and depression in these children. Here we examine, for the first time, mental health in a sample of socially transitioned transgender children. METHODS A community-based national sample of transgender, prepubescent children (n = 73, aged 3–12 years), along with control groups of nontransgender children in the same age range (n = 73 age- and gender-matched community controls; n = 49 sibling of transgender participants), were recruited as part of the TransYouth Project. Parents completed anxiety and depression measures. RESULTS Transgender children showed no elevations in depression and slightly elevated anxiety relative to population averages. They did not differ from the control groups on depression symptoms and had only marginally higher anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group. Especially striking is the comparison with reports of children with GID; socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex.

Removal of gender incongruence of childhood diagnostic category: a human rights perspective

“…Second, we share the authors' satisfaction with the results from one study, 3 which show some children with gender incongruence of childhood do well following early social transition. However, this is only one piece of research in a fi eld marked by decades of controversy.…”

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

“…Recent literature indicates that transgender teenagers who feel supported by their families have lower rates of depression and anxiety. 47 Connections with a supportive online community (eg, the "It Gets Better" project) may be beneficial to teenagers who identify as LGBTQI, but most such programs have not been studied to determine effects and outcomes.…”

Beyond Discrete Categories: Studying Multiracial, Intersex, and Transgender Children Will Strengthen Basic Developmental Science

“…On the one hand, if these children will desist in their behaviors and identities anyway, some argue, why not try to make that behavior desist earlier (e.g., Meyer-Bahlburg, 2002) and therefore reduce anxiety and/or peer maltreatment that results from the gender nonconformity (Wilson, Griffin, & Wren, 2005)? On the other hand, if a gender-nonconforming child is highly likely to be a transgender adult, one might suggest providing familial (Hidalgo et al, 2013) and medical (de Vries, Steensma, Doreleijers, & Cohen-Kettenis, 2011) support, especially given that both have been linked to better mental health among transgender adults (e.g., de Vries et al, 2011;Hill, Menvielle, Sica, & Johnson, 2010;Olson, Durwood, DeMeules, & McLaughlin, 2016). Thus, increasing the ability to identify which children will (or will not) identify as transgender adults is of utmost importance.…”