Zucker (2026): Mothers and daughters remember childhood gender behavior differently

A new analysis by clinical psychologist Kenneth Zucker provides empirical material for the controversial concept of "rapid-onset gender dysphoria" (ROGD): the hypothesis that some adolescents — predominantly those assigned female at birth — first show signs of gender dysphoria during puberty, without anything preceding it in childhood.

In 2026, Zucker revisited the existing evidence on the onset of gender dysphoria and added new material: a direct comparison between what mothers remember about their daughters' gender-nonconforming behavior in childhood and what the daughters themselves later say they remember.

What the research adds

For 156 mother-daughter pairs (the daughters were 15.31 years old on average), childhood gender-nonconforming behavior was measured in two ways: through the mother's memory and through the daughter's own memory, using the same questionnaire. The daughters systematically reported more gender-nonconforming behavior in childhood than their mothers remembered. The correlation between the two sources was 0.56 — a moderate association, with the two accounts contradicting each other in a substantial proportion of cases.

For Zucker, this suggests that an adolescent's retrospective self-report is not a reliable substitute for independently recorded behavior documented at the time — precisely on the point on which diagnosis relies most heavily.

Why this matters for diagnosis

The prevailing assumption in gender care is that persistent gender dysphoria since childhood predicts something different from dysphoria that emerges only during puberty, particularly among girls. In practice, the distinction between the two groups often rests almost entirely on what patients report about their own childhood — there is rarely an independent source, such as a parent, who can confirm or challenge that account.

Zucker's figures show that when such an independent source is available, it presents a different picture in nearly half of cases than the self-report does. This makes the dividing line between "early-onset" and "rapid-onset" dysphoria less clear-cut than the distinction is often presented in practice.

A controversial concept

ROGD remains one of the most controversial terms in the gender debate. The American Psychological Association, WPATH and around sixty other professional organizations have previously called for the term to be removed from clinical practice, arguing that its scientific basis is lacking and that the concept could stigmatize young people seeking transgender care.

Zucker explicitly presents his figures as additional evidence in an ongoing and polarized debate, not as conclusive proof: his research concerns when dysphoria first emerges, not whether transition is the appropriate treatment for an individual patient. It does, however, add a concrete methodological problem to the discussion — the self-report on which much diagnosis relies appears to be less stable than is often assumed.