School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
Gender Service Organization, Kelly Psychology, London, UK.
Arch Sex Behav. 2023 Apr;52(3):1045-1060. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02588-5. Epub 2023 Apr 4.
Social gender transition is an increasingly accepted intervention for gender variant children and adolescents. To date, there is scant literature comparing the mental health of children and adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria who have socially transitioned versus those who are still living in their birth-assigned gender. We examined the mental health of children and adolescents referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), a specialist clinic in London, UK, who had socially transitioned (i.e., were living in their affirmed gender and/or had changed their name) versus those who had not socially transitioned. Referrals to the GIDS were aged 4-17 years. We assessed mental health correlates of living in one's affirmed gender among 288 children and adolescents (208 birth-assigned female; 210 socially transitioned) and of name change in 357 children and adolescents (253 birth-assigned female; 214 name change). The presence or absence of mood and anxiety difficulties and past suicide attempts were clinician rated. Living in role and name change were more prevalent in birth-assigned females versus birth-assigned males. Overall, there were no significant effects of social transition or name change on mental health status. These findings identify the need for more research to understand how social transition influences mental health, including longitudinal studies that allow for more confident inferences to be made regarding the relationship between social transition and mental health in young people with gender dysphoria.
社会性别过渡是一种越来越被接受的性别变异儿童和青少年干预措施。迄今为止，关于已经社会过渡的性别焦虑症儿童和青少年与仍处于出生时性别认同的儿童和青少年的心理健康比较，文献甚少。我们研究了英国伦敦专门诊所性别认同发展服务（GIDS）转介的儿童和青少年的心理健康状况，这些儿童和青少年已经社会过渡（即生活在他们所认同的性别中，或者已经改变了他们的名字）与那些尚未社会过渡的儿童和青少年。GIDS 的转介年龄为 4-17 岁。我们评估了 288 名儿童和青少年（208 名出生时为女性；210 名社会过渡）生活在自己所认同的性别中以及 357 名儿童和青少年（253 名出生时为女性；214 名改名）中名字改变的心理健康相关因素。情绪和焦虑困难以及过去自杀企图的存在或不存在由临床医生进行评估。在出生时为女性的儿童和青少年中，角色生活和名字改变更为普遍。总体而言，社会过渡或名字改变对心理健康状况没有显著影响。这些发现表明需要进行更多的研究，以了解社会过渡如何影响心理健康，包括允许对性别焦虑症青少年的社会过渡与心理健康之间的关系做出更有信心的推断的纵向研究。
