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The Biological Contributions to Gender Identity and Gender Diversity: Bringing Data to the Table

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Abstract

The American Psychological Association defines gender identity as, “A person’s deeply-felt, inherent sense of being a boy, a man, or a male; a girl, a woman, or a female; or an alternative gender (e.g., genderqueer, gender nonconforming, gender neutral) that may or may not correspond to a person’s sex assigned at birth or to a person’s primary or secondary sex characteristics” (American Psychological Association, Am Psychol 70(9):832–864, 2015). Here we review the evidence that gender identity and related socially defined gender constructs are influenced in part by innate factors including genes. Based on the data reviewed, we hypothesize that gender identity is a multifactorial complex trait with a heritable polygenic component. We argue that increasing the awareness of the biological diversity underlying gender identity development is relevant to all domains of social, medical, and neuroscience research and foundational for reducing health disparities and promoting human-rights protections for gender minorities.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the many transgender and gender non-conforming children and adults who have participated in the research cited in this paper. We express great gratitude to the youth and adults who participated in our Community Engagement Studios and who shared their thoughts on the importance and value of genomics research on gender identity and voiced their concerns about potential misuse of the results.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Tinca J. C. Polderman & Danielle Posthuma

  2. Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Tinca J. C. Polderman & Danielle Posthuma

  3. Department of Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Baudewijntje P. C. Kreukels

  4. Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Baudewijntje P. C. Kreukels & Martin Den Heijer

  5. Division of Endocrinology, Center for Andrology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Michael S. Irwig

  6. Program for LGBTI Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Lauren Beach, Jesse Ehrenfeld & Lea K. Davis

  7. Division of Nephrology & Hypertension, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Lauren Beach

  8. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Yee-Ming Chan & Amy Tishelman

  9. Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Yee-Ming Chan

  10. Translational Neurogenomics Group, QIMR Berghofer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Eske M. Derks

  11. Department of Endocrinology and Gender Identity Unit, University Regional Hospital of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

    Isabel Esteva

  12. Foundation Institute of Biomedical Research in Malaga (FIMABIS-IBIMA), Malaga, Spain

    Isabel Esteva

  13. Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Jesse Ehrenfeld

  14. Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Jesse Ehrenfeld

  15. Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Jesse Ehrenfeld

  16. Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Jesse Ehrenfeld

  17. Department of Internal Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Martin Den Heijer

  18. Department of Research, OCHIN, Inc., Portland, OR, USA

    Lewis Raynor

  19. Divisions of Endocrinology and Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Amy Tishelman

  20. Division of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Lea K. Davis

  21. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Lea K. Davis

  22. Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Lea K. Davis

  23. 23Vanderbilt University, 511-A Light Hall, 2215 Garland Ave, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA

    Lea K. Davis

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  1. Tinca J. C. Polderman
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  2. Baudewijntje P. C. Kreukels
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  3. Michael S. Irwig
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  4. Lauren Beach
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  5. Yee-Ming Chan
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  6. Eske M. Derks
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  7. Isabel Esteva
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  8. Jesse Ehrenfeld
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  9. Martin Den Heijer
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  10. Danielle Posthuma
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  11. Lewis Raynor
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  12. Amy Tishelman
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  13. Lea K. Davis
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on behalf of the International Gender Diversity Genomics Consortium

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lea K. Davis.

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Edited by Michael Lyons.

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Polderman, T.J.C., Kreukels, B.P.C., Irwig, M.S. et al. The Biological Contributions to Gender Identity and Gender Diversity: Bringing Data to the Table. Behav Genet 48, 95–108 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9889-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9889-z

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