Gender dysphoria most common among teenage girls with 'exceptionally high intelligence': report
A new report reveals that gender dysphoria has the highest prevalence among youth of European descent, with discomfort with one’s gender most common among children, especially girls with “exceptionally high intelligence” and a history of mental health issues.
A website called Parents of ROGD kids.com, which has formed a support group for families with gender dysphoric children, surveyed parents who believed they had children experiencing rapid onset gender dysphoria.
The survey results, which collected responses over nearly four years, were compiled into a report by website creator Suzanna Diaz and J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University’s Department of Psychology on Wednesday. The 1,774 responses to the survey were collected from Dec. 1, 2017, through Oct. 22, 2021.
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Examining the demographics of youth who developed rapid onset gender dysphoria reveals that three-quarters of the children (75%) were female, while just 25% were male. Additionally, the overwhelming majority (78.9%) were of European descent, while much smaller shares were ethnically mixed (16.2%), Asian (2.8%), Indigenous (0.8%), African American (0.6%), Middle Eastern and East Indian (0.4%).
The results of the survey measured the average age when children first experience gender dysphoria as 14.8 years old. The report details how, on average, girls began to develop gender dysphoria at 14.1 years, while boys were an average of 16 years old when they first began to experience discomfort with their sex.
The survey asked parents to evaluate their child’s “social adjustment” before they began to experience gender dysphoria. A majority of both males (57.6%) and females (56.7%) had “a few good friends” before they developed gender dysphoria. Responses from parents showed that similar percentages of boys (33.7%) and girls (33.9%) “got along with other kids” before they began to question their sex.
While one-third of parents (33.3%) of sons experiencing gender dysphoria indicated their child was bullied before becoming gender dysphoric, just 26.3% of parents with daughters experiencing gender dysphoria said the same. According to parents of girls with gender dysphoria, 27.3% said their child was “well-liked,” in contrast to 22.7% of parents of boys.
As nearly 10% of parents who believe their daughters have gender dysphoria reported that their child had “many good friends,” just 3.9% of parents whose sons have gender dysphoria said the same. Parents of boys (16.8%) were slightly more likely than their female counterparts (14.3%) to report that their child was “not well liked by peers,” as similar percentages of parents with daughters (17.4%) and sons (15.8%) recalled that their child had “one good friend.”
Extremely small shares of parents with girls answered in the affirmative when asked if their daughters had others fight or instigate arguments with them (4.7%), instigated fights with others (2.3%) or bullied others (2.2%), while 5.4% of parents with boys reported that their son found themselves in fights or arguments instigated by others. Less than 1% of parents with sons maintained that their child “bullied others.”
When asked to evaluate their child’s level of intelligence, 35.6% of parents reported their child had “exceptionally high intelligence,” while just 15.5% characterized their child’s level of intelligence as “average or below average.”
A majority of parents (57%) said their gender dysphoric children had a history of “mental health issues,” while 42.5% insisted otherwise. Parents of girls (59.4%) were slightly more likely to report a mental health history in their children than parents of boys (51%). On average, mental health issues first began to arise 3.8 years before gender dysphoria.
The most common mental health issues experienced by females with gender dysphoria were anxiety (47.3%), depression (33.2%), difficulty socializing with peers (26.5%) and difficulty coping with stressful situations in general (23.2%). Among males, the most frequently reported mental health issues included anxiety (35.2%), difficulty socializing with peers (28.1%), depression (25.1%) and difficulty coping with stressful situations in general (19.2%).
A majority of the 390 parents (51.8%) who answered a question asking whether they felt pressure from a “gender clinic or specialist” to transition their child socially or medically reported experiencing pressure. By contrast, just 24.6% said that they did not feel any pressure to “transition” their child and an additional 23.6% responded that they were “unsure” if they felt pressured to transition their child.
When asked if their children were friends with others who “came out as transgender around the same time,” 55.4% of the 917 respondents who answered the question responded in the affirmative. Among parents of girls, that figure increased to 60.9%.
Respondents reported that their children spent an average of 4 ½ hours a day “on the Internet and social media.” However, it was determined that the number of hours per day on the internet and social media “was not significantly related to the likelihood of social transition.”
The report’s publication takes place as the medical establishment and popular culture continue to embrace the “Affirmative Approach,” which touts puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and body-mutilating sex-change surgeries as solutions for gender dysphoria. Parents of ROGD Kids condemn the Affirmative Approach as a “lie.”
The release of the survey comes as states across the U.S. are working to sex-change procedures from being performed on minors. Currently, 12 states have implemented prohibitions on some or all forms of sex-change procedures in light of concerns about their long-term impacts: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.
The American College of Pediatricians has identified some of the potential side effects of puberty blockers as “osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.” Potential longterm impacts of cross-sex hormones include “an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.”
Sex-change surgeries include chemical and surgical castration, double mastectomies on girls, orchiectomy (removing testicles) for boys, the construction of a fake vagina (vaginoplasty) for boys, and removal of skin and tissue from girls' forearms or thighs to create a fake, flaccid penis that doesn't function.
Several detransitioners have come forward to discuss their trauma and regret from having these life-altering medical procedures, with 18-year-old Chloe Cole among the most prominent.
Cole, whose gender dysphoria has since subsided, has announced her intention to sue the medical professionals who treated her for gender dysphoria. As a letter announcing her intent to sue explains, although doctors advised Cole that “the distress she experienced because of her gender dysphoria would resolve as she transitioned,” she discovered that her “distress always came back worse” after a burst of “initial relief” following “each phase of transition.”
She has also maintained that the double mastectomy she underwent at the age of 15 caused her mental health to deteriorate and led to suicidal thoughts.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
