Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 06:00 am
A study from researchers in the Netherlands found that nearly two-thirds of children who had wished that they belonged to the opposite sex as adolescents ultimately became comfortable with their biological sex in early adulthood.
The 15-year study, which was conducted by researchers at the Netherlands’ University of Groningen, tracked the gender unhappiness rates of 2,772 study participants from ages 11 through 26.
In the early stages of the study, 11% of participants reported the desire to have been born as the opposite gender. As they got older, the number steadily declined and it eventually dropped to about 4% of participants wishing they had been born as the opposite gender at the last follow-up, which was usually at age 26.
According to the study, 78% of participants never became discontent with their gender. About 19% grew more content over time and only 2% became less content over time.