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this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2026
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Your link is broken, here’s working one:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2851743
No causal link demonstrated, potentially affected by other factors like how supportive your environment is.
I'm not sure how you could possibly isolate being allowed puberty blockers as a child from your family being supportive. It seems like one follows the other, since every (supported) trans child I know of is on track to eventually receive hormones or has already received them, because it's generally the standard of care if treatment is sought prior to puberty and cross-sex hormones are desired and considered appropriate in the future. Unsupported trans kids don't get treatment.
The overwhelming majority of the literature in the last 30-ish years have reached similar conclusions, we just don't know why yet. The important part is to support trans kids, though. It has been shown to produce the best outcomes.
Without a causal link shown it’s just peer reviewed correlation. Yes, there are things to suggest it helps with mental health outcomes but as the paper says directly, this is not a proof and there are other factors at play.
I’m not a fan of scientific studies where correlation is all they can come up with. If correlation alone was what we went by then scientists could propose public policies to reintroduce maritime piracy to decrease global warming - they’re inversely correlated after all.
I'm not a fan of correlation is all they can come with up either, but if there's strong correlation for nearly a century (the first studies on cross-sex hormones in adults are quite old) that transition and family/peer support helps reduce depression and suicidality, I'm inclined to at least be supportive.
With children, it's even easier for me in particular to lend my support because the data are still strongly in favour of support even if the kid grows out of it later and blockers are largely reversible with few side effects. But as you say, we need to continue to monitor the literature to see how our understanding of the situation changes as we learn more.