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Understanding Nonbinary and Gender Diverse Youth

Guest Edited by:
Jamie D. Agapoff, MD, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, United States of America

Nonbinary gender identities are prominent among gender diverse youth, having increased significantly over the last decade. Leading theories in support of gender diversity argue that greater acceptance, the availability of more descriptive and inclusive language, and diverse sociocultural forces are behind the apparent rise in transgender youth.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health is inviting submissions for a special issue on Understanding Nonbinary and Gender Diverse Youth. Articles should focus on attempts to deepen our understanding of non-binary gender identity, and we welcome manuscripts of diverse methods including quantitative and qualitative clinical research, as well as systematic approaches to reviews. We also encourage submissions from gender diverse researchers whose personal experiences provide invaluable insights in the study of this area.

The goal of the special issue is to expand our understanding of gender diversity, and manuscripts that aim to repudiate or pathologize gender identities are not suitable for this issue. We discourage single case studies, personal narratives, essays, and commentaries. On the other hand, qualitative papers exploring the gender narratives of nonbinary youth will be of interest, and quantitative studies addressing mental health and access challenges to gender-affirmative care will be prioritized.

Interested authors are welcome to reach out to the guest editor, Dr. Jamie D. Agapoff (she/they), at JAgapoff@dop.hawaii.edu, to propose a manuscript and receive some initial input on suitability for this special issue. Submissions will be considered until the end of June 2024.


  1. While research has emphasized the importance of parental support for LGBTQIA + youth wellbeing, there remains limited understanding of parental experiences with nonbinary children, particularly those prepubesc...

    Authors: Noah Sweder, Lucinda Garcia and Fernando Salinas-Quiroz
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2024 18:117
  2. Over the past decades, media use has become a key aspect of young people’s daily lives, significantly shaping their social interactions, learning processes, and recreational pursuits. At the same time, healthc...

    Authors: Diana Klinger, Paul L. Plener, Golli Marboe, Andreas Karwautz, Oswald D. Kothgassner and Tobias Dienlin
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2024 18:104
  3. Gender dysphoria, characterized by a misalignment between one’s gender identity and assigned sex, propels individuals towards medical interventions like gender reassignment surgery (GRS) to harmonize their bod...

    Authors: Elham Rahimpour, Elham Askary, Shaghayegh Moradi Alamdarloo, Saeed Alborzi and Tahereh Poordast
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2024 18:100
  4. Gender dysphoria among transgender adolescents has predominantly been examined in relation to body dissatisfaction. While in adult transgender samples, body dissatisfaction is higher than in cisgender controls...

    Authors: Alexandra Brecht, Sascha Bos, Laura Ries, Kerstin Hübner, Pia-Marie Widenka, Sibylle Maria Winter and Claudia Calvano
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2024 18:30
  5. Gender incongruence can often manifest itself from early childhood [Olson KR, Gülgöz S. Child Dev Perspect. 2018;12:93–7. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1111/​cdep.​12268]...

    Authors: Kenny Gutiérrez, Mabel Moreno, Jimena Alexandra Sierra, Rodrigo Lemus, Karen Apraez and Mario Jr. Angulo
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2024 18:1
  6. Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by the incongruence between one’s experienced and expressed gender and assigned-sex-at-birth; it is associated with clinically significant distress. In recent years, the ...

    Authors: Elisa Marconi, Laura Monti, Angelica Marfoli, Georgios D. Kotzalidis, Delfina Janiri, Cecilia Cianfriglia, Federica Moriconi, Stefano Costa, Chiara Veredice, Gabriele Sani and Daniela Pia Rosaria Chieffo
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2023 17:110
  7. Gender-diverse young people experience a cisnormative world and are subject to unique minority stressors, which have been found to contribute to adverse mental health. This research aims to understand the soci...

    Authors: Daisy Haywood, María de Andrés, Una Masic and Polly Carmichael
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2023 17:85