Summary

This US study asked children who had socially transitioned (living fully as the other gender, with family support) to rate their own depression, anxiety and self-worth. It compared them with matched children and with their brothers and sisters. The trans children reported normal levels of depression and self-worth and slightly more anxiety; parents reported similar results. The authors contrasted this with earlier clinic studies of gender-nonconforming children who had not transitioned, which found much more distress. But families were found through support networks, were mostly well-off and supportive, and children did not need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. With nothing measured before transition, the study cannot show social transition caused the good mental health. Later careful reviews rate this kind of evidence as low quality.

Key findings

• 社会的トランジションをした9～14歳のトランスの子ども63人、対応する子ども63人、そのきょうだい38人が、短い質問票で自分のうつ病と不安を評価しました。
• うつ病はグループ間で違いはなく、トランスの子どもたちのスコアは米国の平均と同程度でした。
• トランスの子どもはやや多くの不安を報告しましたが、その差は偶然でもありえました。親は、他の子どもよりも明らかに多くの不安を報告し、米国の平均を上回っていました。
• 6～14歳のトランスの子ども116人の自己価値は、他の子どもやそのきょうだいと違いませんでした。
• トランスの子どもの親は、子ども自身よりもやや多くの不安を報告しており、著者らはこれを、親が問題を隠していない兆候と受け取りました。
• 家族は、トランスの子どもの家族のための支援グループ、サマーキャンプ、オンラインフォーラムを通じて見つかり、高収入であることがはるかに多くなっていました。
• 著者らは、社会的トランジションがこの結果を引き起こしたと結論づけることはできず、子どもが成長するにつれて問題が現れる可能性もあると述べています。

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Social transitions are increasingly common for transgender children. A social transition involves a child presenting to other people as a member of the "opposite" gender in all contexts (e.g., wearing clothes and using pronouns of that gender). Little is known about the well-being of socially transitioned transgender children. This study examined self-reported depression, anxiety, and self-worth in socially transitioned transgender children compared with 2 control groups: age- and gender-matched controls and siblings of transgender children. METHOD: As part of a longitudinal study (TransYouth Project), children (9-14 years old) and their parents completed measurements of depression and anxiety (n = 63 transgender children, n = 63 controls, n = 38 siblings). Children (6-14 years old; n = 116 transgender children, n = 122 controls, n = 72 siblings) also reported on their self-worth. Mental health and self-worth were compared across groups. RESULTS: Transgender children reported depression and self-worth that did not differ from their matched-control or sibling peers (p = .311), and they reported marginally higher anxiety (p = .076). Compared with national averages, transgender children showed typical rates of depression (p = .290) and marginally higher rates of anxiety (p = .096). Parents similarly reported that their transgender children experienced more anxiety than children in the control groups (p = .002) and rated their transgender children as having equivalent levels of depression (p = .728). CONCLUSION: These findings are in striking contrast to previous work with gender-nonconforming children who had not socially transitioned, which found very high rates of depression and anxiety. These findings lessen concerns from previous work that parents of socially transitioned children could be systematically underreporting mental health problems.

Conclusion

These findings are in striking contrast to previous work with gender-nonconforming children who had not socially transitioned, which found very high rates of depression and anxiety. These findings lessen concerns from previous work that parents of socially transitioned children could be systematically underreporting mental health problems. In the discussion the authors add that they cannot conclude social transition caused the outcomes, that the children may face greater issues as they mature, and that the high-income skew of the sample limits generalisation; they suggest the results provide converging evidence that early family support is associated with positive mental health in transgender children.