RESUMEN
Few studies have examined how gender variance (GV), broadly defined as gender identity and behaviors (e.g., activities and preferences) that do not correspond with culturally defined gender norms, manifests in community samples, particularly in children and outside Western contexts. We present data based on the Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children (GIQC; Johnson et al., 2004) among 461 Chinese community children (4-12 years old) to gauge how well the GIQC serves as a measure of GV and the prevalence of GV. We examined the descriptive scores of GV, its relationship to a gender-typing measure that has been validated in Chinese children (the Child Play Behavior and Activity Questionnaire, CPBAQ), the scores on the GIQC of children whose gender is incongruent with birth-assigned sex, and the binned category distributions (from gender-variant to gender-conforming) in comparison to a Canadian community sample (van der Miesen et al., 2018). The Chinese children on average scored toward the gender-conforming end and children assigned female at birth showed more GV than children assigned male at birth. More importantly, the GIQC appears to be a reliable and sensitive measure of GV in the Chinese sample. GIQC scores correlated significantly with CPBAQ scores and showed a very similar reliability coefficient, gender difference effect size, and bin distribution pattern as the Canadian reference sample. Also, children reported as gender/sex incongruent had the most gender-variant GIQC scores. Although clinically gender-referred Chinese children are required to establish culturally specific cutoff points, these findings provide initial evidence for the characteristics of GV, the applicability of the GIQC as a measure of GV in Chinese community children, and the comparisons of GIQC categories between Chinese and Canadian community samples.
Asunto(s)
Identidad de Género , Humanos , Masculino , Femenino , Niño , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Preescolar , China , Pueblo Asiatico/psicología , Pueblo Asiatico/estadística & datos numéricos , Canadá , Pueblos del Este de AsiaRESUMEN
Emerging evidence suggests that gender dysphoria or gender diversity (GD) intersects frequently with autism spectrum disorder or autism traits. However, the magnitude and interpretation of this link continue to be debated. Most child studies on this topic were performed in clinical populations, and little is known about the generalizability of this co-occurrence to the broader community, especially to non-Western samples. Also, little is known about whether specific subdomains of autism are more strongly associated with GD. Therefore, we investigated GD and its association with autism traits in a Chinese community sample of 4-12-year-olds (N = 379; 51% birth-assigned girls). Parents provided information about GD characteristics using the standardized Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children and autism traits using the Chinese version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient-Children. In addition, broader behavioral and emotional challenges were measured by the Behavior Problem Index (BPI) to account for psychological challenges other than autism traits. In this community sample of Chinese children, increased GD was associated with increased autism traits, even after accounting for the BPI. Of the four subscales, the Imagination and Patterns subscales in birth-assigned girls and the Imagination subscale in birth-assigned boys were especially associated with GD. These findings indicate that the association between GD and autism traits generalizes to a nonclinical, non-Western sample. Clinicians and researchers working with clinical as well as community children should thus pay attention to the co-occurrence of GD and autism traits, in and outside the West.