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Clinical characteristics of a total cohort of female and male applicants for sex reassignment: a descriptive study
Author(s) -
Landén M.,
Wålinder J.,
Lundström B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1998.tb09986.x
Subject(s) - cohort , demography , cohort study , medicine , same sex , transsexual , psychology , retrospective cohort study , gynecology , developmental psychology , surgery , transgender , sociology , psychoanalysis
The objective of this study was to compare the features of female‐to‐male transsexuals (F‐M) with those of male‐to‐female transsexuals (M‐F) in the cohort of all applicants for sex reassignment over a 20–year period. In an observational, cross‐sectional design the cohort was retrospectively identified, consisting of all 233 subjects who applied for sex reassignment in Sweden during the period 1972–1992. The cohort was subdivided into the groups M‐F (n=134) and F‐M (n=99), and the two groups were compared. M‐F were older when applying for sex reassignment surgery than F‐M, and more often had a history of marriage and children than their F‐M counterparts. M‐F also had more heterosexual experience. F‐M, on the other hand, more frequently exhibited cross‐gender behaviour in childhood than did M‐F transsexuals. The present and previous studies strongly support the view that transsexualism manifests itself differently in males and females. Various models for understanding these differences are discussed.