A study has found that most transgender children remain the same 5 years later. The LGBTQ+ community has grown, and while they have come a long way when it comes to equal rights and fairness, they still have a long way to go. One of the benefits of the strides they have made is that children and youth are feeling more comfortable opening up about their truth, and who they are. They feel like the world is a safer space for them, but there are still those that choose not to accept how they feel and how they identify, thinking that it is “just a phase.”
According to US News, a study was done showing that most children who are transgender stay with their gender identity five years later. Children and youth will often complete a “social transition” when they are young, which means that they live their life as the gender they identify as, but they are not yet on any hormone therapy.
The study was done by Princeton University, and it can be read in full here. Kristina Olson, one of the authors of the study stated that social transitioning refers to changing pronouns, first name, hairstyles, and clothing. It refers to the “social” part of gender.
When researchers looked at children under the age of 12, they found that more than 9 in 10 stayed with their first transition decision five years later. This can work to dispel the thoughts people have that if we let children transition when they are young, they may grow to change their minds. This thought is often based on the idea that children are still developing, growing, and learning. While re-transitions can be traumatic, this study shows that it is just not what happens. Children are confident with whom they feel they are.
A previous smaller study, on just four children, found that none of them regretted or changed their minds on how they wanted to identify. This study was much larger, but it seemed to confirm what the first had found. When they look at the participants in the study, they found that two-thirds were transgender boys (boys who had been assigned female at birth), and one-third were transgender girls.
These studies are really fascinating, and they are likely to continue to not only understand the community more, but to inform and educate the world on transgender children and youth.