Mental Health and Self-Worth in Socially Transitioned Transgender Youth
Correspondence
- Correspondence to Kristina R. Olson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195
Correspondence information about the author PhD Kristina R. OlsonCorrespondence
- Correspondence to Kristina R. Olson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195
Article Info
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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.
Key words:
transgender children, gender nonconformity, social transitions, mental health, self-worthTo access this article, please choose from the options below
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This article is discussed in an editorial by Mr. Jack L. Turban on page 101.
This article can be used to obtain continuing medical education (CME) at www.jaacap.com.
This work was supported by grants from the Royalty Research Fund and the Arcus Foundation to K.R.O. These funding sources played no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation, and no funding source saw the report before submission for publication.
This work was presented at the World Professional Association for Transgender Health; Amsterdam, Netherlands; June 19, 2016.
The authors thank Madeleine DeMeules, BA, and Gabrielle Lindquist, BA, of the University of Washington, for data collection assistance, and Gabriella Ji, undergraduate, of the University of Washington, for data entry assistance.
Disclosure: Dr. McLaughlin has received paid honoraria from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Brain and Behavior Foundation, the APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology, the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology–Susan Nolan-Hoeksma Early Career Award, and the University of Colorado at Denver. She has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Royalty Research Fund, the International Mental Health Research Organization, the Jacobs Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Olson has received or soon will be receiving paid honoraria from the Pennsylvania State University–Abbington, Arizona State University, University of Washington Medical School, University of California–San Diego, and the University of Minnesota Program in Human Sexuality. She has received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the Science of Intellectual Humility. Ms. Durwood reports no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
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