Summary

Researchers used first-visit surveys and clinic records from 173 teenagers under 16 referred to 10 Canadian gender clinics. They tested predictions of the 'rapid-onset gender dysphoria' idea, which suggests some teens develop a trans identity suddenly, often under peer influence. They compared teens who said they had realised their gender was different within about the past year with those who had known longer. The recent group did not have more mental health or developmental diagnoses or self-harm, and did not rely more on online or trans friends. They had less anxiety. The authors concluded the data did not support the idea. Critics, including Littman, replied that time since realising is not the same as onset at or after puberty, so the study may not have tested the idea at all. The small recent group, the under-16 limit and the clinic-only sample further limit what it can show.

Key findings

• Studi ini melihat 173 remaja di bawah 16 tahun pada kunjungan pertama untuk penghambat pubertas atau hormon di 10 klinik gender Kanada pada 2017–2019.
• 'Terbaru' berarti usia remaja saat ini berada dalam 1 tahun dari usia saat mereka mengatakan menyadari gender mereka berbeda. Karena usia dalam tahun penuh, ini bisa mencakup hampir 2 tahun.
• Setelah memperhitungkan usia dan jenis kelamin lahir, mereka yang baru menyadari tidak lebih mungkin mengalami depresi, tekanan batin, diagnosis yang tercatat, tekanan gender, melukai diri sendiri atau percobaan bunuh diri, atau bergantung pada dukungan daring, trans, atau orang tua.
• Mereka yang baru menyadari memiliki kecemasan yang lebih sedikit dan jauh lebih kecil kemungkinannya memakai mariyuana dalam setahun terakhir (sekitar sepersepuluh kemungkinannya), kebalikan dari yang diprediksi gagasan tersebut.
• Seluruh kelompok memiliki kebutuhan tinggi: 51,6% memiliki diagnosis kesehatan mental yang tercatat, 25,9% diagnosis perkembangan seperti autisme atau ADHD, dan 67,9% melaporkan melukai diri sendiri dalam setahun terakhir.
• Hasilnya hampir sama dengan definisi 2 tahun yang lebih longgar, kecuali bahwa temuan mariyuana kemudian bisa jadi kebetulan.
• Surat-surat yang diterbitkan dari Lisa Littman dan Joanne Sinai berargumen bahwa studi ini tidak mengukur disforia onset cepat, karena tidak pernah melihat kapan disforia dimulai relatif terhadap pubertas.

Abstract

Although emergence of gender dysphoria at puberty is long established, a distinct pathway of rapid onset gender dysphoria was recently hypothesized based on parental data. Using adolescent clinical data, we tested a series of associations that would be consistent with this pathway, however, our results did not support the rapid onset gender dysphoria hypothesis.

Conclusion

We did not find support within a clinical population for a new etiologic phenomenon of rapid onset gender dysphoria during adolescence. Among adolescents under age 16 years seen in specialized gender clinics, associations between more recent gender knowledge and factors hypothesized to be involved in rapid onset gender dysphoria were either not statistically significant, or were in the opposite direction to what would be hypothesized. This putative phenomenon was posited based on survey data from a convenience sample of parents recruited from websites, and may represent the perceptions or experiences of those parents, rather than of adolescents, particularly those who may enter into clinical care. Similar analyses should be replicated using additional clinical and community data sources.