A01

• Define gender dysphoria

  Psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one's sex assigned at birth and one's gender identity
• Outline the brain-sex theory

  The theory assumes that male and female brains are different and therefore the brain of a transgender individual does not match their biological sex
• Explain the BSTc (bed nucleus of the stria terminalis) as a structure implicated in the brain-sex theory

  - nSexually dimorphic structure located in the thalamus responsible for emotional responses

  - On average, the BSTC is twice as large in heterosexual men as in heterosexual women and contains twice the number of neurons
• Outline how study of the BSTc has shown support for brain-sex theory

  The size of the BSTc correlates with preferred sex rather than biological sex
• Describe the findings of Zhou et al. (1995) and Kruijver et al. (2000) as research support for the brain-sex theory

  Two Dutch studies that found that the number of neurons in the BSTc of trans women (male to female) was similar to that of the females and vice versa for trans men (female to male)
• Describe Heylens et al.'s (2012) study of as evidence for the genetic influence of gender dysphoria

  Compared 23 MZ twins with 21 DZ twins where one of each pair was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and found that nine (39%) of MZ twins were concordant for gender dysphoria compared to none of the DZ twins
• Explain the social construction perspective for gender dysphoria

  The idea that gender identity is 'invented' by societies and is not due to biological differences; this perspective argues that gender dysphoria is not a pathological condition, but a social phenomenon which arises when people are required / forced to choose to be either a man or a woman and act accordingly
• Describe McClintock's (2015) research as evidence for social constructionism

  She cites the case of individuals in New Guinea with a genetic condition (5-alpha reductase deficiency) and found this genetic variation is common among the Sambia; it was routinely accepted among this culture that some people are men, some women and others are females-then-males (kwolu-aatmwol)
• Describe Stoller (1973) as research evidence for the influence that a mother-son relationship has on the development of gender dysphoria

  Used clinical interviews to find that males with gender dysphoria had an overly close relationships with their mother which led to greater female identification and confused gender identity
• Describe Zucker (2004) as research evidence for the influence that a father-daughter relationship has on the development of gender dysphoria

  Found that females with gender dysphoria suffer from paternal rejections in early childhood and unconsciously think if they become males, they might gain acceptance from their father