Social transition – changing names, pronouns, clothing and bathroom use – correlates with the persistence of transgender identity

Pediatric transition doctors in the Netherlands who first pioneered the use of puberty blockers in dysphoric children observe that social transition correlates with an increase in young people’s persistence when it comes to gender identity¹. This led them to caution against social transition before puberty.

Another paper² notes that gender dysphoria is more persistent into adolescence where social transition has occurred, and as such asserts that social transition is a “psychosocial intervention [which] might be characterized as iatrogenic” – a medical problem caused by the treatment itself.

There is evidence³ that social transition by the child was found to be strongly correlated with persistence for natal boys, more so than for girls.

1. de Vries, A. L., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2012). Clinical management of gender dysphoria in children and adolescents: The Dutch approach. Journal of Homosexuality 59 (3): 301–320. [Link] ↩︎
2. Zucker, K. J. (2019). Debate: Different strokes for different folks. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 25(1): 36-37. [Link] ↩︎
3. teensma, T.D., McGuire, J.K., Kreukels, B.P., Beekman, A.J. & Cohen-Kettenis, P.T. (2013). Factors associated with desistence and persistence of childhood gender dysphoria: a quantitative follow-up study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 52 (6): 582-90. [Link] ↩︎