Abstract
Purpose
The “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) hypothesis theorized, based on a parent-report
survey, a distinct and more transient form of gender dysphoria in which individuals
purportedly come to understand themselves as transgender and/or gender diverse (TGD)
suddenly during adolescence. This study evaluated components of ROGD by (1) estimating
the prevalence among TGD adults of first realizing one's TGD identity after childhood
(i.e., after the onset of puberty), and (2) assessing the median time between realizing
one's gender identity and disclosing this to someone else.
Methods
We conducted a secondary analysis of the 2015 US Transgender Survey, a survey of 27,715
TGD adults in the United States. Participants were asked the age at which they first
realized their gender identity was different than societal expectations based on their
sex assigned at birth and grouped by “childhood realization” (ages ≤ 10 years) and
“later realization” (ages > 10). They were also asked the age at which they first
shared their gender identity with another person.
Results
Of 27,497 participants, 40.8% reported “later realization” of TGD identities. Within
the “childhood realization” group, the median age of sharing one's gender identity
with another person was 20. In this group, the median time between realization of
one's gender identity and sharing this with another person was 14 years.
Discussion
A substantial proportion of TGD adults reported realizing their gender identity was
different from societal expectations based on their sex assigned at birth during adolescence
or later. Several years typically elapsed between participants' TGD identity realization
and sharing this with another person. The results of this study do not support the
ROGD hypothesis.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 17, 2023
Accepted:
January 21,
2023
Received:
June 13,
2022
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: Dr. Turban reports receiving textbook royalties from Springer Nature and expert witness payments from The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal. He has received a pilot research award for general psychiatry residents from The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Its Industry Donors (Arbor & Pfizer) and a research fellowship from The Sorensen Foundation. Dr. Keuroghlian reports receiving textbook royalties from McGraw Hill. No other disclosures were reported.
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