Gender Development in Gender Diverse Children

Preliminary development of a brief parent-report gender identity alignment/distress screener for children

This research develops a brief, and preliminary, parent-report screener to assess gender identity alignment/distress in children. The increasing prevalence of children not identifying with their sex at birth, the length and outdated language of existing gender identity measures, and the need to assess gender identity among children (as opposed to adolescent/adult measures) motivate a screener. A survey containing 14 items from existing instruments was administered to a diverse set of 1110 parents of children ages 3-12. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, followed by multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) modelling, were used to develop a 5-item, unidimensional screener that may assess gender identity alignment/distress. The screener may be suitable to identify children who experience misalignment between their gender and sex assigned at birth and parents or children for whom this misalignment causes distress. These families may benefit from additional resources and conversations between paediatric staff and children about their gender identity, including education for parents, and/or referrals for specialty care. Future research should further streamline and validate this preliminary screener, examine its convergence with gender identity and distress measures and explore including children's perspectives.

Exploring the relationship between media use and depressive symptoms among gender diverse youth: findings of the Mental Health Days Study

BACKGROUND

Over the past decades, media use has become a key aspect of young people's daily lives, significantly shaping their social interactions, learning processes, and recreational pursuits. At the same time, healthcare professionals and researchers are increasingly concerned about the impact of media use on young people's mental health. This concern is particularly relevant for gender diverse youth who may have distinct experiences with media that could impact their mental health uniquely compared to their peers, such as increased exposure to cyberbullying and negative content regarding their gender identity. This study aims to explore the associations between media use and depressive symptoms among youth and examine if gender moderates this association.

METHODS

This study utilized a cross-sectional design involving a school-based sample of 8158 participants (Mage = 14.05 years, SD = 2.45, Ndiverse = 144) from Austria. Participants completed a survey assessing their media use and depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Media use was measured by asking participants to report their daily usage in hours and minutes across various categories, including smartphone use, streaming services, social networks, and other media types. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships between different forms of media use and depressive symptoms. Moderation analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS to explore the role of gender.

RESULTS

For gender diverse youth, multiple regression analysis identified streaming services (β = 0.265, p = .005) and social networks (β = 0.189, p = .037) as significant predictors of depressive symptoms in gender diverse youth. Moderation analyses conducted with the entire sample showed that gender moderates the relationship between depressive symptoms and smartphone use (B = - 0.008, p = .014), with the effect being the most negative for gender diverse individuals.

CONCLUSION

The findings underscore the complex relationship between media use and depressive symptoms among gender diverse youth, emphasizing the moderating role of gender. These results underline the need for gender-sensitive approaches in media literacy and mental health interventions. Stakeholders should be aware of risks and benefits of different media types to foster healthy media engagement.

A developmental framework for understanding the influence of sex and gender on health: Pediatric pain as an exemplar

Sex differences are a robust finding in many areas of adult health, including cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders, and chronic pain. However, many sex differences are not consistently observed until after the onset of puberty. This has led to the hypothesis that hormones are primary contributors to sex differences in health outcomes, largely ignoring the relative contributions of early developmental influences, emerging psychosocial factors, gender, and the interaction between these variables. In this paper, we argue that a comprehensive understanding of sex and gender contributions to health outcomes should start as early as conception and take an iterative biopsychosocial-developmental perspective that considers intersecting social positions. We present a conceptual framework, informed by a review of the literature in basic, clinical, and social science that captures how critical developmental stages for both sex and gender can affect children's health and longer-term outcomes. The literature on pediatric chronic pain is used as a worked example of how the framework can be applied to understanding different chronic conditions.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression in Adolescent Research: Two Decades in Review

There is a long history of research among adolescents who are minoritized and marginalized for their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression (SOGIE). However, it remains unclear how we can best conceptualize and assess SOGIE in adolescence, resulting in different subpopulations and findings across studies. Addressing this issue, we present a narrative literature review of the conceptualization and assessment of SOGIE, and provide recommendations for conceptualizing and operationalizing these concepts. Our review indicated that most research with adolescent populations still almost exclusively assesses isolated dimensions of sexuality and gender (e.g., attraction but not identity). We argue that to make research inclusive and equitable, scholars are required to make clear substantiated decisions and be transparent about the SOGIE dimensions and, thus, subpopulations they represent.

The paradox of progress for sexual and gender diverse youth

In this essay, we explore diversity in sexual and gender identities, with a focus on implications of the current politicized moment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning youth. As youth come out at younger ages, their personal identity development collides with the adolescence period characterized by peer influence, stigma, and possible victimization. We consider the changing and diverse experiences of coming out in adolescence for sexual and gender diverse youth. The current social and political moment offers possibilities for new identities, yet anti-LGBTQ + legislative and policy actions have crucial implications for health and wellbeing for youth.