Transgender youth

Transgender youth are presenting at younger ages with increasing numbers being referred to transgender healthcare services. The introduction and more widespread use of puberty suppression, to suspend physical development, gives younger people an opportunity to receive medical gender affirmative treatment care without having to wait until adulthood. Young transgender individuals may have a diverse range of gender identities and/or expressions that differ from societal expectations based on the gender that they were assigned at birth. While some present with longstanding other-gender behaviour from childhood, others have transgender identity feelings that emerge during or after the onset of the physical changes brought on by puberty. For clinicians and other health professionals, helping all of the youth and their families may sometimes be a challenging task. For certain youth, the need for gender affirmative treatment is crystal clear, whereas for others there may be a need for further exploration of what their feelings mean. Other psychological and social challenges may add complexity when making decisions about social gender transition and the irreversible medical interventions that have far reaching consequences later on in life.