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Review
. 2018 Mar;48(2):95-108.
doi: 10.1007/s10519-018-9889-z. Epub 2018 Feb 19.

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

Tinca J C Polderman  1   2 , Baudewijntje P C Kreukels  3   4 , Michael S Irwig  5 , Lauren Beach  6   7 , Yee-Ming Chan  8   9 , Eske M Derks  10 , Isabel Esteva  11   12 , Jesse Ehrenfeld  6   13   14   15   16 , Martin Den Heijer  4   17 , Danielle Posthuma  1   2 , Lewis Raynor  18 , Amy Tishelman  8   19 , Lea K Davis  20   21   22   23   24 ; International Gender Diversity Genomics Consortium
Affiliations
Free article
Review

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

Tinca J C Polderman et al. Behav Genet. 2018 Mar.
Free article

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.

Keywords: Gender dysphoria; Gender identity; Genetics; Heritability; Transgender; Twin studies.

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