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Atypical Gender Development - Coggle Diagram
Atypical Gender Development
GENDER DYSPHORIA
some people feel mismatch between their biological sex and the gender they feel they are (i.e.
gender identity
)
people with gender dysphoria do not identify as the sex they were given at birth
for many sufferers, gender dysphoria is a source of stress and discomfort & this is recognised as psychological disorder in
DSM-5
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
EVALUATION
contradictory evidence:
P: central claims in brain sex theory have been challenged
E:
Hulshoff et al. (2006)
showed via MRI scans of transgender brains that taking hormone treatment cause change in size of the BST. other studies examined the BST post-mortem after transgender individuals had received hormone treatment during gender reassignment treatment
E: limitation - suggests hormones cause change is BST, not necessarily gender dysphoria
Other Brain differences
P: evidence suggests there may be other brain differences associated with gender dysphoria
E:
Rametti et al. (2011)
analysed the brains of male & female transgenders before hormone treatment. found white matter corresponded to the gender the individuals identified with
E: strength - suggests that there are early differences in brains scans of transgender individuals
categorisation of gender dysphoria in DSM-5 specifically excludes intersex conditions which have been seen to have a biological basis, e.g.
Klinefelter's syndrome
and
CAH
it's plausible that gender dysphoria may be subject to some biological influence
Brain sex theory.
certain structure in males and females brains are different
the
Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminal (BST)
is twice as large in males & is involved in emotional responses
BST is found to be smaller in transgender females (Kruijver et al. 2000)
BST size correlates with gender identity, not biological sex - which is suggested why they feel, from early childhood, that they were born with the wrong sex.
genetic factors
Coolidge et al. (2002)
assessed 157 twins (96 MZ and 61 DZ) for evidence of gender dysphoria
found 62% of the variance could be accounted for by genetic factors.
suggests there is a strong heritable component to gender dysphoria
Gunter Heylens et al. (2012)
compared 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins
one of each pair was diagnosed with gender dysphoria
found 9 (39%) of the MZ twins were
concordant
for gender dysphoria compared to none of the DZs
indicates a role for genetic factors in development of gender dysphoria
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS