The majority of gender-confused children grow out of that feeling by the time they are fully grown adults, according to a long-term study.
Researchers in the Netherlands tracked more than 2,700 children from age 11 to their mid-twenties, asking them every three years of feelings about their gender.
Results showed at the start of the research, around one-in-10 children (11 percent) expressed ‘gender non-contentedness‘ to varying degrees.
But by age 25, just one-in-25 (4 percent) said they ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ were discontent with their gender.
The researchers concluded: ‘The results of the current study might help adolescents to realize that it is normal to have some doubts about one’s identity and one’s gender identity during this age period and that this is also relatively common.’
It comes amid a massive boom in transgender children receiving drugs to change their gender in the US – as critics say doctors and parents are not challenging young people enough.
Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center who was not involved in the research, told DailyMail.com: ‘This study provides even more reason to be skeptical towards aggressive steps to facilitate gender transition in childhood and adolescence.
‘The fact that rates of satisfaction are lower even just a few years later suggests that for the vast majority of people, prudence and caution, rather than a rush towards permanent surgeries or hormone therapies, will be the best approach for teenagers struggling to make sense of the world and their place in it.
‘As such, policies that prohibit gender transition for minors make a great deal of sense.’
The study is one of the longest into the issue of gender in children – but the researchers point out it has some limitations.
For one, it looked at a mixture of children from the general population and kids who were receiving mental health care – though not specifically for anything related to their gender.
Therefore it does not necessarily reflect the attitudes of children clinically diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Read More: Most gender-confused children grow out of it, landmark 15-year study concludes