Most Children Grow out of Gender Confusion Over Time, Long-Term Dutch Study Suggests

Published on April 5, 2024

While proponents of “gender-affirming” treatment for adolescents claim that the confusion surrounding gender isn’t just a phase that one can grow out of, a long-term, large-scale study from the Netherlands seems to suggest otherwise. For their study, researchers at the University of Groningen looked at data collected from 2,772 individuals through a survey spanning 15 years. Beginning at age 11, the participants were periodically asked about how they felt about their own gender, until they reached their mid-twenties. The survey contained a prompt, “I wish to be of the opposite sex.” The participants were asked to respond to that same statement every two to three years over the course of the 15-year study, and each time, they were given a multiple choice: “Not True,” “Somewhat or Sometimes True,” and “Very True or Often True.”...