Gender diversity in the current age: Understanding, measuring, and supporting adolescent experiences

Date: Wednesday 17 June
Time: 11.00am - 12.15pm

Overview

Across the world, increasing numbers of adolescents are identifying as trans and/or gender diverse. Many of these adolescents are seeking support from education, health, and social care systems, yet there remains an ongoing challenge in how best to understand, measure, and respond to the experiences and needs of this population. This symposium brings together three complementary perspectives on gender diversity in adolescence, highlighting insights from large-scale data, service evaluations, and national research programmes.

The first presentation, co-presented with a member of our trans and gender diverse youth advisory group, explores how best to ask about gender identity in population surveys of youth mental health. Drawing on three waves (2021/2023/2025) of the OxWell Student Survey (n > 130,000), it overviews lessons learned about inclusive question design, data quality, and balancing scientific rigour with sensitivity and respect.

The second presentation, again drawing on OxWell, examines what large-scale survey data reveal about the wellbeing, service use, and support networks of trans and gender diverse young people. It discusses patterns of mental health symptoms, help-seeking, and perceived barriers to care, highlighting how data can guide schools, commissioners, and practitioners in creating responsive environments and equitable access to support.

The third presentation draws on the LOGIC Study, which is tracking the characteristics and needs of young people referred to the NHS Gender Identity Clinic. This talk explores what baseline data can tell us about pathways into care, comorbidities, and implications for early intervention and system design.

This symposium aims to bring clarity and compassion to one of the most complex and fast-evolving topics in adolescent psychiatry. By combining lived experience, population data, methodological reflection, and service-level insight, it seeks to inform policy and practice, and support design and provision of evidence-based care for a group at heightened risk for poor mental health.

This session aims to:

  • understand current trends in adolescent gender diversity and implications for mental health and wellbeing
  • explore methodological and ethical issues in measuring gender diversity in research and clinical practice
  • examine data-driven insights into the needs, service experiences, and support networks of gender diverse youth
  • discuss how multi-sector collaboration can improve access and outcomes for gender diverse young people.

Speakers

  • Chair: Professor Tamsin Ford, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
  • Asking the right questions: toward more accurate and inclusive measurement of gender in youth mental health research
    • Dr Emma Soneson, University of Oxford, Oxford
  • The LOGIC study: insights from children and adolescents referred to NHS gender services
    • Dr Eilish Kennedy, University College, London
  • Understanding the experiences and support networks of gender diverse adolescents
    • Professor Mina Fazel, University of Oxford, Oxford
Register for Congress 2026

Please email congress@rcpsych.ac.uk or call 020 8618 4120 with any enquiries.