Is Research on Transgender Children What It Seems? Comments on Recent Research on Transgender Children with High Levels of Parental Support.
Recent research on transgender children who have had support from their parents for their transitioning has concluded that their mental health is virtually no different than that of nontransgender children. Such research has been extensively cited, over 370 times in the past three years. Most of the...
| Publicado en: | Linacre Quarterly Vol. 87; no. 1; pp. 9 - 25 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | commentary tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Sage Publications Inc.
Feb2020
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=141696914&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 141696914 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 00243639 23BJ jtl: Linacre Quarterly issn: 00243639 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Feb2020 vid: 87 iid: 1 pid: 20732 pub: Sage Publications Inc. place: Thousand Oaks, California artinfo: ui: 141696914 141696914 141696914 10.1177/0024363919884799 141696914 ppf: 9 ppct: 16 formats: tig: atl: Is Research on Transgender Children What It Seems? Comments on Recent Research on Transgender Children with High Levels of Parental Support. aug: au: Schumm, Walter R. Crawford, Duane W. affil: Applied Family Science Unit, School of Family Studies and Human Services, College of Human Ecology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA sug: subj: Transgender Persons In Infancy and Childhood Mental Health Services In Infancy and Childhood Research, Medical Parent-Child Relations Support, Psychosocial Child Research Methodology Gender Identity Anxiety Prevention and Control Depression Prevention and Control Child: 6-12 years ab: Recent research on transgender children who have had support from their parents for their transitioning has concluded that their mental health is virtually no different than that of nontransgender children. Such research has been extensively cited, over 370 times in the past three years. Most of the hundreds of reviews received the stated results of the studies with little caution. However, the research featured numerous statistical errors and omissions, the implications of which would likely lead neutral observers to conclude that the mental health of transgender children, even when supported by their parents, was poorer than that of the groups of control children. In particular, levels of anxiety as reported by both parents and their transgender children appear to be significantly higher, and the transgender children's reports of self-worth appear to be significantly lower. Although reports regarding depression are not as significantly different, the effect sizes were generally in a similar direction as the other outcomes, being less favorable for the transgender children. Such issues highlight the need for careful examination of statistical research, even when published in highly regarded medical journals. As with other research, findings from the early stages of controversial research may often be premature. Further research is needed to explore factors underlying these results. Summary: Some scholars have believed that if transgender children were supported by their parents before the children reached puberty, the generally higher rates of mental illness experienced by many transgender persons might be prevented or alleviated. Dr. Kristina Olson of the Department of Psychology at the University of Seattle was the first scholar to have studied groups of transgender children who were being supported by their parents and to have compared them to a control group of children and to siblings of the same transgender children. Her conclusion was that there were minimal, if any, differences in anxiety, depression, and self-worth among the groups of children; her research has since been cited extensively as having found just that. We reanalyzed her raw data and found that, to the contrary, the transgender children, even when supported by their parents, had significantly lower average scores on anxiety and self-worth. Often, a significantly higher percentage of transgender children, compared to controls, featured preclinical or clinical levels of anxiety. Parental support of transgender children may temporarily reduce levels of poor mental health for some transgender children, but it does not appear to eliminate those problems for all transgender children. Our findings should serve as a warning against accepting research at a surface level, which can lead to acceptance of invalid information and pursuit of ineffective interventions. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: commentary tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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