Majority of children who express unhappiness with gender will grow out of these feelings, major new study shows

The majority of children who are unhappy with their gender will grow out of the feeling, according to a major study.

It found that one in ten 11-year-olds was not content with their birth sex, but for most this uncertainty had vanished by the time they reached their mid-20s.

Scientists from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands followed the lives of 2,772 young people, assessing them at the ages of 11, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 25. 

The study found that one in ten 11-year-olds was not content with their birth sex, but for most this uncertainty had vanished by the time they reached their mid-20s

Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass author of The Cass Review report into NHS child gender services published last week

They were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement: 'I wish to be of the opposite sex.'

At the age of 11, the start of the study, 11 per cent of participants were unhappy with their birth sex. 

This number dropped at each assessment until, by the age of 25, it was just 4 per cent.

The Tavistock Centre where children were placed on hormone medication that should not have been given to them

The findings, published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour journal, raise serious questions about the approach advocated by trans activists to simply 'affirm' children who identify as the opposite sex and allow them to take puberty-blocking drugs.

They also back the conclusions of the scathing Cass report into NHS child gender services published last week – that for most young people 'a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage gender-related distress'.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, of gender-critical charity Transgender Trend, said last night that the findings were a 'victory for common sense'.