Gender Dysphoria in Childhood and Adolescence in Italy. Preliminary Data of a Mapping Study.

Gender dysphoria (GD) in childhood and adolescence is a complex phenomenon characterized by clinically significant distress due to the incongruence between assigned gender at birth and experienced gender. Gender identity issues among children and adolescents can be highly variable and, in recent years, consensus about the best clinical practice is currently under debate. In several countries (e.g. the Netherlands, Canada, UK, USA) the number of children and adolescents who are referred to gender identity clinics is high and increasing. In Italy, so far, young referrals are scarce. The aim of this research is to understand the reasons of this discrepancy. Carrying out the first mapping of GD in childhood (2-11 years) and adolescence (12-19 years) in Italy, the research group developed an online questionnaire for psychologists, psychotherapists, paediatricians and child psychiatrists. The questionnaire explores clinicians’ knowledge and interest on gender dysphoria, the number of encountered cases and, for each case, the display of GD behaviours. Preliminary findings (from the first three months, answers collected only among psychologists and psychotherapists) showed a numerous rate of answers that made possible the collection of diverse profiles for Italian GD children and adolescents. Moreover, little knowledge about gender dysphoria (along with a clinical interest and need for more information on that topic) was found among psychologists and psychotherapists. Lastly, the questionnaire explored how clinicians have dealt with each case in terms of taking the patient in care or referring him or her to other health professionals or to gender clinics. As expected, referrals to gender clinics resulted very low.