Tyra Banks producing new Discovery+ series about teenage drag performers

While that finding has been promoted by conservatives and state-level politicians, critics contend that the data point is being misused by policymakers and the study’s lead author has acknowledged that the finding was not the study’s primary focus and doesn’t provide a basis to calculate the percentage of children whose gender dysphoria persist with gender dysphoria into adulthood.

However, other studies have also suggested that a gender dysphoria diagnosis doesn’t persist for many into adulthood.

Proponents of allowing youth to transition at a young age argue that such studies are often overblown, and many gender specialists say that “social transition” is better for kids who believe they are transgender. This includes allowing kids to change their names, pronouns, and dress accordingly to their gender identity, even in children as young as three.

“There are virtually no other situations in which adults simply accept the testimony of small kids at face value,” Richards, Heritage Foundation’s senior research fellow in religious liberty and civil society, said. “Social transition is just the first step in catering to a child’s delusion about his or her body, rather than helping him or her to get used to his body.”

Some studies, like a 2018 study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and another 2016 study published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, have suggested that large percentages of children with a history of gender dysphoria have a mental health or neurodevelopmental condition.

While there remains more to discover about the potential link between gender dysphoria and other mental health issues, Richards believes parents and therapists should focus on treating other psychological conditions that may be present in children suffering from gender dysphoria instead of encouraging them to transition.

He advised parents with children who have gender dysphoria to take a “watchful waiting” approach.

“You let the child explore these things, but you absolutely don’t do anything to his mind or his body or his social surrounding that would cement this misperception about his sex body permanently,” he said. “You want to do what you can to help the child going through puberty and through development, but nothing fast-tracks that for transition.”