Puberty Affecting Transgender Youth

1298 Words3 Pages

Puberty is often a period of difficult developmental changes. LGBTQ* youth experience these challenges, as well as additional stigmas and disparities in society. Specifically, transgender and gender dysphoric youth – when one’s biological assigned sex and one’s personal sense of gender identity do not align – have a unique pubertal understandings and awareness in regards to mental, physical, medical, and social factors. Because a majority of preadolescent and pubertal sexual activity takes place as self-exploration (Graber & Archibald, 2011), coming out or self-identifying one’s gender identity does not usually occur until after puberty or during adulthood. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the varying factors of puberty that affect …show more content…

While there are opportunities and experiences that were not possible for previous generations (Institute of Medicine, 2011), such as being accepted by family, peers, and society whilst “coming out”, there are also, however, continual risks and disadvantages in the school and family environments. The contrasting distinctions compared to their cisgender peers may become distinct as gender dysphoric youth enter puberty, especially in a “cisnormative” and transphobic society (Horowitz & Itzkowitz, 2011). For example, there are significantly fewer transgender or gender non-conforming role models in the media and in real life than cisgender mentors. Moreover, as physical pubertal changes become noticeable to others, a majority of homophobic and transphobic bullying occurs in early in middle school and onwards to high school (Taylor et al., 2011). Youth who are targets of this harassment generally tend to have lower grades than their peers, as well as having high rates of depression and suicidal thoughts and actions. Additionally, puberty may result in changed in parent-child relationships (Graber & Archibald, 2011). While increased conflict affects a multitude of the teenaged population during puberty, transgender and gender variant youth may be absent of parental support (Graber & Archibald, 2011), possibly due to old-fashioned perspectives and a lack of understanding. It is significant to …show more content…

Firstly, there is very little empirical research and longitudinal studies on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer youth, and the amount of research is much lesser for transgender and gender dysphoric youth (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Probable causes of the lack of research include “societal taboos… homophobia [and transphobia], adult discomfort with issues of youth sexuality, and fear of backlash from conservative community stakeholders” (Horowitz & Itzkowitz, 2011, p. 33). Additionally, research gaps may stem from researchers one or too few questions in regards to the participants’ identities; many individuals who have not self-identified or “come out”, especially during youth, do not have a clear response to how they identify. As well, it if often difficult to have a large and meaningful group of individuals who are willing to disclose their gender identity in research studies, especially at such a young age during puberty when many are not certain of their identity. Furthermore, there is a distinct lack of research on the physical health of transgender youth in relation to hormone administration and use, as no comparable data on this subject has been researched in humans (Institute of Medicine,

Open Document