Prevalence of Adolescent Gender Experiences and Gender Expression in Germany

PURPOSE: Adolescence marks a transition point in the development of gender experience and expression. Although there is growing awareness about various gender identities in health research, only limited data on the prevalence of adolescent gender variance in the general population exist.

METHODS: German female and male adolescents (n = 940) aged 10-16 years participating in the nationally representative "Health Behaviour in School-aged Children" Hamburg survey were asked to report their current gender experience (identification as both feminine and masculine) and gender expression (gender role as a girl or boy). Two overall categories and five subcategories on gender experience and expression were established based on previous research.

RESULTS: In total, 4.1% of the adolescents' responses were rated as variant in gender experience and 3.0% as nonconforming in expression. Both variant experiences and nonconforming expression together were present in only .9% of adolescents. Gender variance was more strongly present in girls and in younger age groups. In detail, 1.6% reported an incongruent, 1.1% an ambivalent, and 1.5% no gender identification. Another 8.0% of the responses could be rated as only somewhat congruent.

CONCLUSIONS: Fluidity between clearly congruent or incongruent pathways is present in adolescence, including variant as well as possibly still developing (only somewhat clear) gender experiences, whereas clearly incongruent identification and nonconforming expression were less frequent. Understanding adolescent gender development as multidimensional is important to identify the needs of those who do not fit into the current understanding of either female or male.