Atypical gender development

Question 1

what is gender identity disorder?

Answer 1

when people feel a mismatch between their biological sex and the sex they feel

Question 2

biological explanations

Answer 2

GID excludes intersex conditions on the basis they are biological e.g KF
however brain sex theory suggests that gid is caused by specific brain structures that are incompatible with a persons sex

Question 3

Ning Zouh et al study

Answer 3

studied bed of stria terminals which is assumed to be fully developed by age 5 - 40% larger in males

Question 4

Kruijiver et al study

Answer 4

studied same brain tissue and a number of neurons again individuals showed a sex reversed identity

Question 5

genetic factors

Answer 5

evidence suggests that GID may have a genetic basis

Question 6

coolidge et al (2002)

Answer 6

assessed 157 twin pairs (96MZ and 61DZ) The prevalance was estimated to be 2.3% with 62% of cases said to be accounted for by genetic variance
this suggests a strong heritability component

Question 7

psychoanalytic theory (ovesy and person)

Answer 7

argued GID is caused by extreme separation anxiety before gender identity has been established

Question 8

stroller 1973

Answer 8

in interviews with GID they demonstrated overly close mother-son relationships that would lead to greater female identification and confused gender identity in the long term

Question 9

cognitive explanation (liben and bigler)

Answer 9

proposed extension of gender schema theory - dual pathway theory

Question 10

first pathway

Answer 10

directs gender appropriate behaviour as part of normal development

Question 11

second pathway

Answer 11

describes how gender pathways are affected by his or her activity

Question 12

what happens after second pathway

Answer 12

personal intrests may become more dominant than gender identity - this leads to development of non sex-typed schema. this in turn leads to androgynus behaviour and sometimes GID

Question 13

Evaluation - twin studies

Answer 13

twin studies are inconclusive - low concordance rates - difficult to separate nuture and nature as twins are influenced by environment

Question 14

evaluation (biological)

Answer 14

oversimplify a complex concept

reductionist

Question 15

issues with psychoanalitic theory

Answer 15

ovesy and petersons explanation does not consider females

idea that GID is caused by separation anxiety is difficult to test

Question 16

contradictory evidence for BSTC

Answer 16

as it forms at age of 5 any treatment by a transgendered person should not impact on GID

Question 17

hulshoff et al BSTC

Answer 17

found transgendered hormone therapy did impact on BSTC Therefore changes may be due to hormone therapy rather than being a cause of GID