USA TODAY International Edition
Risk of abuse rises for kids who don’t conform to gender roles
Those children also more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder as young adults
Children whose activity choices, interests and pretend play don’t conform to expected gender roles face an increased risk of abuse and future trauma, a new study finds.
One in 10 kids display gender non- conformity before age 11 and, on average, are more likely to experience physical, psychological and sexual abuse and experience post- traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) by early adulthood, says the study of nearly 9,000 young adults published online today in Pediatrics.
The abuse was perpetrated mostly by parents or other adults in the home, says lead study author Andrea Roberts, a research associate in the department of society, human development and health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The study focused on behaviors in childhood before age 11. At that stage, children often “exhibit a wide variety of behaviors that mean nothing about their future sexual preferences,” Roberts says. She notes that 85% of gender- non- conforming children in the study were heterosexual in adulthood. In childhood, however, those who were not “extremely typical in their gender expression” faced “harmful discrimination and intolerance that has a lasting impact.”
The childhood behaviors were culled from questionnaires completed by a sample of adults ages 17 to 27 of all sexual orientations enrolled in the study. Respondents were asked in 2005 to recall their childhood experiences, including favorite toys and games, whether they took male or female roles in pretend play, and media characters they imitated and admired.
They also were asked about physical, sexual or emotional abuse they experienced and were screened for PTSD in 2007.
The increased risk for non- conforming kids vs. conforming kids was similar in both sexes for physical and psychological abuse. For sexual abuse, non- conforming girls were at 60% greater risk than conforming girls, but non- conforming boys were at nearly three times greater risk compared with conforming boys.
Rates of PTSD were almost twice as high among young adults who were gender non- conforming as kids than among those who were not. PTSD has been linked to risky behavior such as engaging in unprotected sex and to physical symptoms such as cardiovascular problems and chronic pain, according to the study.
More research is needed to understand why gender nonconforming kids experience greater risk of abuse, says Roberts. Parents who are uncomfortable with or feel negative toward a child who exhibits gender non- conformity “may have the idea, ‘ If I force him not to be that way, he won’t be like that as an adult.’ ”