PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING OF ADOLESCENT TRANSSEXUALS - PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Adolescent transsexuals were compared with adolescent psychiatric outp atients and first-year university students to determine the extent to which other psychopathology is a necessary condition for the developme nt of transsexualism Three areas of psychological functioning associat ed with fundamental psychological disturbances-perceptual inaccuracy, disorders of thought and negative self-image-were assessed by means of the Rorschach Comprehensive System. The group of adolescent transsexu als was found to be intermediate between adolescent psychiatric patien ts and nonpatients for extent of perceptual inaccuracy. They did not d iffer significantly from nonpatients with regard to thinking disturban ces and negative self-image. The psychiatric patients included signifi cantly more individuals characterized by negative self image than the other groups. The results support the idea that major psychopathology is not required for the development of transsexualism. (C) 1997 John W iley & Sons. Inc.