How do brain features change with gender identity?

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

When comparing the brains of teens who are gender diverse and those who are not, their brain sizes appear to be no different, according to international researchers, but there might be some differences in specific brain features. The team looked at 2,165 teens in the Netherlands and found no difference in brain volume, but they did find that for young people assigned male at birth, parts of one area of the brain were thicker among the youths who reported gender diversity. While more research is needed, the team says they do not aim to develop ‘diagnostic tests’ to confirm a person’s gender identity or treatments to ‘fix’ anyone, rather, they want to learn more about neurobiology and gender diversity to move towards destigmatisation and improved quality of life for those with diverse gender identities.

Journal/conference: JAMA Network Open

Link to research (DOI): 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.13139

Organisation/s: New York University Grossman School of Medicine, USA

Funder: The general design of the Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Center, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), and the Netherlands Ministry of Health,Welfare, and Sport. This project was supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (Dr Ghassabian) and in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIMH. Dr Ghassabian was also supported by grants UH3OD023305 and R01ES032826 from the National Institutes of Health. Neuroimaging was supported by TOP project 9121102 from ZonMw (Dr White). Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Media release

From: JAMA

Gender Diversity and Brain Morphology Among Adolescents

About The Study: The findings of this study of 2,165 adolescents from the Netherlands general population suggest that global brain volumetric measures did not differ between adolescents who reported gender diversity and those who did not. However, these findings further suggest that gender diversity in the general population correlates with specific brain morphologic features in the inferior temporal gyrus among youths who are assigned male at birth. Replication of these findings is necessary to elucidate the potential neurobiological basis of gender diversity in the general population.

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