Study: Most Children Confused About Their Sex Grow Out of It as Adults

A majority of children who are confused about their sex grow out of that feeling by the time they become adults, according to a 15-year-old study.

The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Groningenin in the Netherlands, involved surveying 2,770 sex-confused children every three years and asking them about their feelings on the matter, according to a report by Daily Mail.

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At the start of the research, about one in ten children (11 percent) reportedly expressed “gender non-contentedness” to varying degrees, but by the age of 25, only one in 25 (4 percent) said they “often” or “sometimes” felt discontent with their sex.

“The results of the current study might help adolescents to realize that it is normal to have some doubts about one’s identity and one’s gender identity during this age period and that this is also relatively common,” the researchers concluded.

The study serves as a major blow to those who argue children should be able to receive drugs for transgender-related purposes, as well as transgender-related medical procedures.

Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Daily Mail, “The study provides even more reason to be skeptical towards aggressive steps to facilitate gender transition in childhood and adolescence.”

“The fact that rates of satisfaction are lower even just a few years later suggests that for the vast majority of people, prudence and caution, rather than a rush towards permanent surgeries or hormone therapies, will be the best approach for teenagers struggling to make sense of the world and their place in it,” he added.

“As such, policies that prohibit gender transition for minors make a great deal of sense,” Brown affirmed.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also reacted to the study on Thursday, writing in an X/Twitter post, “I’m cool with adults doing whatever they want, so long as it doesn’t harm others, but kids need to be protected at all costs.”

I’m cool with adults doing whatever they want, so long as it doesn’t harm others, but kids need to be protected at all costs https://t.co/DBgwyvUovs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2024

The Dutch research was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, and is reportedly one of the longest studies analyzing the issue of children who are confused about their sex.

“Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development,” researchers said.

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Dr. Jay Richards, director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family, told Daily Mail, “We’ve known for over a decade that most kids who experience distress with their sexed bodies resolve those feelings after they pass through natural puberty.”

Richards added that there are other sources disclosing “that as many as 88 percent of gender-dysphoric girls and as many as 98 percent of gender-dysphoric boys in previous generations desisted if allowed to go through natural puberty.”

“These two facts make it clear why ‘gender-affirming care’ on minors is such an outrage. It leads, in the end, to sterilization and in many cases to a complete loss of natural sexual function,” the doctor said.

“There is no good evidence that this helps minors long term. Moreover, it medicalizes what could very well be temporary psychological symptoms,” Richards added. “History will judge this medicalized ‘gender-affirming care’ on minors as we now judge eugenics and lobotomies.”

Notably, every U.S. state except South Dakota saw gender dysphoria diagnoses soar from 2018 to 2022, with the average age of diagnosis trending younger, a report by the health data analytics firm Definitive Healthcare revealed.

Moreover, an analysis of insurance claims conducted by Komodo Health Inc. reportedly found that roughly 121,880 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria between 2017 and 2021, and that 2021 saw a staggering 70 percent increase from the year prior.

Today, children under the age of 18 make up one-fifth of new diagnoses every year.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.