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The full study link is here, and open source, so anyone can read it. The abstract summarizes all the most important points. Not only do the vast majority of young adolescents grow out of this, strongly indicating it is a phase, but it is also associated with poor mental health. This wasn't some small study. It followed thousands of individuals over a 20-year period:
Gender dysphoria is a sign of mental and emotional instability, and should not be encouraged. It should definitely NOT be accommodated with actions that are potentially permanently harmful such as hormone treatments, or worst of all, invasive surgeries. Sometimes protecting minors means protecting them from their own impulses.
Development of Gender Non-Contentedness During Adolescence and Early Adulthood - Archives of Sexual Behavior
Adolescence is an important period for the development of gender identity. We studied the development of gender non-contentedness, i.e., unhappiness with being the gender aligned with one’s sex, from early adolescence to young adulthood, and its association with self-concept, behavioral and...
link.springer.com
Adolescence is an important period for the development of gender identity. We studied the development of gender non-contentedness, i.e., unhappiness with being the gender aligned with one’s sex, from early adolescence to young adulthood, and its association with self-concept, behavioral and emotional problems, and adult sexual orientation.
Participants were 2772 adolescents (53% male) from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey population and clinical cohort. Data from six waves were included (ages 11–26). Gender non-contentedness was assessed with the item “I wish to be of the opposite sex” from the Youth and Adult Self-Report at all six waves. Behavioral and emotional problems were measured by total scores of these scales at all six waves. Self-concept was assessed at age 11 using the Global Self-Worth and Physical Appearance subscales of the Self-Perception Profile for Children. Sexual orientation was assessed at age 22 by self-report. In early adolescence, 11% of participants reported gender non-contentedness. The prevalence decreased with age and was 4% at the last follow-up (around age 26). Three developmental trajectories of gender non-contentedness were identified: no gender non-contentedness (78%), decreasing gender non-contentedness (19%), and increasing gender non-contentedness (2%).
Individuals with an increasing gender non-contentedness more often were female and both an increasing and decreasing trajectory were associated with a lower global self-worth, more behavioral and emotional problems, and a non-heterosexual sexual orientation. 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.
Gender dysphoria is a sign of mental and emotional instability, and should not be encouraged. It should definitely NOT be accommodated with actions that are potentially permanently harmful such as hormone treatments, or worst of all, invasive surgeries. Sometimes protecting minors means protecting them from their own impulses.