Study Shows Discrimination, Stigma, & Family Pressure Drive “Detransition” Among Transgendered

A new study published in LGBT Health found that 13.1% of currently identified transgender people have detransitioned at some point in their lives, but that 82.5% of those who have detransitioned attribute their decision to at least one external factor such as pressure from family, non-affirming school environments, and increased vulnerability to violence, including sexual assault. The study was authored by researchers at The Fenway Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School) and is believed to be the first rigorous study of the factors that drive transgender and gender diverse people to detransition. "These findings show that detransition and transition regret are not synonymous, despite the two phenomena being frequently conflated in the media and in political debates," said Dr. Jack Turban, fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "For most people, it appears detransition is forced upon them. Our results highlight the extreme barriers transgender people in the U.S. face when trying to live their lives authentically." A growing body of literature shows that exposure to discrimination and stigma increases the risk of poor mental health outcomes among transgender and...