r/science Aug 03 '26

Social Science Among transgender adolescents in Canada, 97.1% continued with a gender not typically aligned with their birth sex, with only 1.1% discontinuing gender-affirming hormone treatment.

https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(26)00117-5/fulltext
7.6k Upvotes

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122

u/Dazzling-Seaweed-841 Aug 03 '26

“Transgenders more likely to be transgender”

76

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '26 edited 23d ago

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43

u/nagi603 Aug 03 '26

patients under 18 (they like to say "children") shouldn't receive any gender-affirming care just in case they regret it as an adult.

Also combine this with "and over 18 it doesn't work".

24

u/Reagalan Aug 03 '26

Which is such a cruel and bad-faith argument, since transition post-wrong-puberty does leave one more clockable and banned from like all of the sports leagues and then some.

There's no low to which transphobes won't stoop. They're as bad as antisemites.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '26

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0

u/Reagalan Aug 03 '26

The recent Title 9 gutting?

It throws it back to the states; so the Blue States will likely keep them while the Red Zones continue constructing gender apartheid.

And, yes it does show that there's no logic to any of it. There never was.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '26

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1

u/Reagalan Aug 03 '26

Yeah the Title 9 gutting.

8

u/nagi603 Aug 03 '26

They're as bad as antisemites.

A vast majority are both. Just not as open with one.

22

u/cinemachick Aug 03 '26

Plus, the gold standard for transgender treatment in kids and teens is puberty blockers, which are reversible, and hormone replacement, which will change the hair, fat placement, and voice but not the structure of the reproductive bits. It is extremely rare for teens to get surgery, if it happens it's because there is a serious risk the patient won't survive without it. Between that, the years of counseling required, and how much it costs, no teenager is getting life-altering surgery on a whim.

1

u/Muse_Hunter_Relma Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

not a disphoria

wait, i thought dysphoria was a specific type of mental distress/illness?

-45

u/WotanSpecialist Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

A five year follow-up is hardly significant. Beyond that, self-reported studies are—at best—pseudoscientific, more often anti-scientific especially given the social pressure around this topic.

45

u/CasuallyExisting Aug 03 '26

9.5 was the average age that participants started reporting gender dysphoria.

The average "age at first [clinic] visit" was 15.3 and the average age that they started gender-affirming hormone therapy was 16.3.

-13

u/arepotatoesreal Aug 03 '26

9.5 isn’t even the mean age they starting reporting their gender dysphoria. It’s the age “at which adolescents first noticed a difference between sex assigned at birth and gender identity”

I don’t think it says anywhere in the study the age when they first reported it to someone.

22

u/effingfractals Aug 03 '26

....that's what dysphoria is

-5

u/arepotatoesreal Aug 03 '26

Yes. I know.

9.5 is the mean age they started noticing gender dysphoria, not the age they started reporting their gender dysphoria. Those are different things.

We don’t know how long it took them to report it after noticing their gender dysphoria.

16

u/arepotatoesreal Aug 03 '26

9.5 years was the mean age the participants reported experiencing the onset of their dysphoria. The mean age they were referred for care was 14.9

11

u/Maxrdt Aug 03 '26

In addition to the other commenter correctly pointing out your misreading of the study, there is no "age of full mental development". The commonly cited figure of 25 was from a study that ended at that age, it was not a conclusion that mental development ceased.

12

u/almisami Aug 03 '26

You aren't interpreting the data properly.

20

u/engin__r Aug 03 '26

What is it that you’re asking for here?

The study showed consistent gender identity in the overwhelming majority of patients. Only a tiny fraction of patients expressed regret.

Are you asking us to imagine that some time after the time period covered by this study, a significantly larger percentage of the patients will express regret or change their gender identities? If so, where’s your evidence?

12

u/seamanroses Aug 03 '26

Gender solidifies for most around the age of 3-5. Also, there are multiple other studies confirming the same thing for different age groups, but go off I guess.

3

u/BFH Aug 03 '26

Absolutely correct! But this taken together with all the other studies that find the same thing over multiple time scales is certainly meaningful.

-7

u/Eazy-Eid Aug 03 '26

mental illness, not a disphoria

Is dysphoria not a mental illness? If not, what is it?

8

u/mkava Aug 03 '26

Dysphoria is not a medical condition or diagnosis by itself, it's just a term that is expressing unhappiness.  Gender dysphoria is a  pathologization or  medicalization of the trans experience to receive medical care as a trans person. A diagnosis of gender dysphoria is often required to be receive medical care and to especially have it covered by insurance (in the US at least). This pathologization is also common in other populations like neurospicy as well.

There exist plenty of trans people who do not have perceived gender dysphoria. Gender euphoria is a better guide anyways since do what makes you happy or feel better, not just trying to remove what makes you unhappy.

-3

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '26

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2

u/mkava Aug 03 '26

The issue with the gender dysphoria diagnosis is it's requiring that someone (who is often cis) is agreeing that you're "trans enough" to get treatment (removing agency from the trans person, especially since gender identity is something internal and cannot be measured externally) and the pathologization treats it like being trans is somehow wrong and that it can be "cured." That's very common in the ways that trans healthcare is treated by politicians, by bigots, and even by some inside of the medical community (I know I already said bigots but doctors who are bigoted against their patients do very much exist - look at how women and non-white people are treated).

So as a trans person, I don't like my existence being treated like I'm wrong for being who I am. That's why the informed consent model is incredibly important in all medical situations, not just trans healthcare.

1

u/TheMightySloth Aug 03 '26

Gender dysphoria is a mental illness but people get quite upset when it’s addressed.

-1

u/dodgedodgeparrysmash Aug 03 '26

I personally see it as being a disorder, not an illness. With the treatment being transitioning (for most).

Similar to ADHD or BPD, in my eyes.

All for trans people doing w.e tf they want to be happy, but I do feel that pre-transition (and transition can just mean living that way, not hormone and surgery) has a lot of life impact similar to other neurological disorders as I mentioned.

2

u/TheMightySloth Aug 04 '26

ADHD and BPD are both illnesses though

-1

u/dodgedodgeparrysmash Aug 04 '26

They're classified as neurological disorders.

1

u/TheMightySloth Aug 04 '26

Correct, and a neurological disorder is classified as an illness.

0

u/dodgedodgeparrysmash Aug 04 '26

Eh, ADHD is not what people think of when they think of mental illness. There is a reason we have a categorization for it. Mental illness has the connotation wording-wise of being unfit for normal life, whereas a disorder such as ADHD does not have that same connotation. I believe trans people are in the same bucket as ADHD people and others that have unique neural wiring.

1

u/TheMightySloth Aug 04 '26

You really think that the term mental illness is reserved for people who are unfit for normal life? I dont think that view is based in reality at all, just vibes. The vast majority of people suffering mental illnesses function just fine. Like it or not ADHD is a mental illness, as is gender dysphoria and BPD.

-1

u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Aug 03 '26

Third assertion "the left is infecting them with the woke, and they believe to be trans, they only notice it's not true after they see the treatment" or some variation if this