14 DAY TRIAL // A group of investigators from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, discovered in a new study that the incidence of gender identity issues – where people would have preferred being born the other gender – is much higher among children and teenagers who were diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
The study was carried out on a test group made up of kids and teens between the ages of 6 and 18. Multiple types of autism and related disorders, such as Asperger syndrome, were considered before the team arrived at its conclusion. The research was led by expert John Strang, PsyD.
When the test group was selected, scientists included participants who were either mentally healthy or had previously been diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, epilepsy, neurofibromatosis, or other types of neurodevelopmental disorders. Scientists questioned each participant about gender variance, or the wish to belong to the other gender, based on the Child Behavior Checklist, PsychCentral reports.
Strang reveals that children and teens with neurodevelopmental disorders were around 7.59 times more likely to display a higher gender variance than their health peers. Children with ADHD were 6.64 times more likely to exhibit gender variance. Interestingly, an elevated incidence of anxiety and depression symptoms were reported among the test group, as opposed to the control group.
“In ADHD, difficulties inhibiting impulses are central to the disorder and could result in difficulty keeping gender impulses ‘under wraps’ in spite of internal and external pressures against cross-gender expression,” Strang explains. The new investigation was detailed in the latest issue of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
“Navigating a child’s gender variance is complex for children and families. The presence of neurodevelopmental disorders makes diagnostics, coping, and adaptation even more challenging,” the investigator adds.
Strang explains that a similar tendency towards gender variance may exist in ASD patients as well. The reason why this hypothetical tendency was not made that obvious in the new research is that children and teens with autism may be less likely to recognize the social restrictions associated with expressing such views. As such, they may be less likely to express these inclinations, if they exist.
“It could also be theorized that excessively rigid or ‘black and white’ thinking could result in such a child’s rigidly interpreting mild or moderate gender nonconforming inclinations as more intense or absolute,” the lead researcher adds.
The team believes that the neural mechanisms common to all of these neurodevelopmental disorders may also provide a foundation for thoughts such as gender variance. However, the group admits that more work is needed to assess this link and to figure out its exact nature.