Most teens outgrow 'trans' feelings - new study

According to a new study conducted in the Netherlands, the vast majority of adolescents unhappy with their sex/gender outgrow their discontent by the age of 22. Only a small percentage of those studied (between the ages of 11 and 26) became more discontented with their gender over time, while 78 percent in this age-group had no gender discontentedness at all.

Most kids do not suffer gender discontent

The study followed 2,772 adolescents (53 percent male, 47 percent female) for 15 years, from age 11 until age 26. They were questioned about their feelings regarding their sex at six points along the way, answering: “I wish to be of the opposite sex” with either 0-Not True, 1-Somewhat or Sometimes True, or  2-Very True of Often True.

Researchers also examined self-concept, behavioral and emotional problems, and adult sexual orientation (the last of which was only examined at age 22). 

According to their findings, around one in ten young adolescents are unhappy with their sex, but by the time they are in their mid-twenties, over half of this group have come to terms with their sex:

In early adolescence, 11% of participants reported gender non-contentedness. The prevalence decreased with age and was 4% at the last follow-up (around age 26).

Meanwhile, most adolescents have no issues in this area, while a very small minority (two percent) become maladjusted during their teenage years:

Three developmental trajectories of gender non-contentedness were identified: no gender non-contentedness (78%), decreasing gender non-contentedness (19%), and increasing gender non-contentedness (2%).

Feminism's failure? Girls still unhappier than boys about their gender

Females were more prone to feeling unhappy with their sex, especially younger teens.

Individuals with an increasing gender non-contentedness more often were female and both an increasing and decreasing trajectory were associated with a lower global self-worth, more behavioral and emotional problems, and a non-heterosexual sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, among those who outgrew their unhappiness with their sex, many turned out to have same-sex attraction:

A decreasing gender non-contentedness trajectory was also significantly associated with a homosexual or bisexual identification and global self-worth.

‘If I change sex, will I feel better about myself?’

In the study, feeling generally negative about oneself correlated with feeling unhappy about one’s sex:

…  tests showed that individuals who answered “sometimes” or “often” at T1 [age eleven] had significantly lower scores on the self-concept physical appearance subscale (referring to a more negative self-concept) compared to individuals who never experienced gender non-contentedness at T1.

This was not a new finding; earlier studies have found the same:

Earlier studies also found that children referred to gender identity clinics have a more negative self-concept compared to a Dutch norm sample, specifically in the physical appearance and global self-worth domains.

The troubled teens of the 21st century

Gender dysphoria, the “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity,” is recognized as an emotional disorder in DSM-5-TR and has long been associated with other emotional problems, and the study confirmed this:

[Those with an] increasing and decreasing gender non-contentedness trajectory had a significantly higher total problem score than individuals without gender non-contentedness at any of the assessment waves…

... individuals with an increasing trajectory of gender non-contentedness had significantly higher YSR/ASR total problem scores at all timepoints. Gender non-contentedness has previously been associated with mental health problems ... and clinical gender dysphoria has been reported to co-occur with diverse psychiatric problems, such as depression and anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and autism spectrum disorder… [emphases added]

Nothing new—and nothing changes

Nothing about the results of this study was especially surprising to anyone who has been following the genuine science of “gender studies.” The researchers noted that earlier studies had similar findings, mentioning one study that found eight percent dissatisfaction with one’s sex at age 13, and none in the same cohort by age 22.

They also cite another study that revealed that “transition” in early childhood made it more likely for patients to have “persistent gender dysphoria.”

Meanwhile, the leaking of the WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) files shows not only that “transition” is still being encouraged for youth, but that those mutilating children and adolescents, in reaction to a likely transient feeling of gender discontent, are quite aware that those taking the drugs and going under the knife have no real understanding of the consequences.

[T]he ethical requirement to obtain informed consent is being violated, with [WPATH] members admitting that children and adolescents cannot comprehend the lifelong consequences of sex-trait modification interventions …

They say they understand, but then they’ll say something else that makes you think, oh, they didn’t really understand that they are going to have facial hair…

[The effects of hormone treatment are] something that kids wouldn’t normally understand because they haven’t had [high school] biology yet…