Zhang YL, Zhang HM, Xu JX, Zhou QY, Wang H, Pan XC. Survey and clinical considerations of gender identity in lower primary school children. World J Psychiatry 2024; 14(1): 36-43 [PMID: 38327883 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i1.36]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiao-Cheng Pan, MS, Chief Nurse, Traditional Chinese Medicine Ward, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, No. 195 Wenhui Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China. ertongzhongyi@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Jan 19, 2024; 14(1): 36-43 Published online Jan 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i1.36
Survey and clinical considerations of gender identity in lower primary school children
Ya-Lin Zhang, Hong-Mei Zhang, Jing-Xia Xu, Qi-Ying Zhou, He Wang, Xiao-Cheng Pan
Ya-Lin Zhang, Department of Pediatrics, Hangzhou Ninth People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 311225, Zhejiang Province, China
Hong-Mei Zhang, Jing-Xia Xu, Department of Nursing, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China
Qi-Ying Zhou, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China
He Wang, Out-patient infection, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China
Xiao-Cheng Pan, Traditional Chinese Medicine Ward, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang YL and Pan XC conceived and designed the study; Zhang HM guided the study; Xu JX and Zhou QY collected the clinical date; Zhang YL and Wang H analyzed the data; all authors drafted and revised the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Hangzhou Children’s Hospital.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Cheng Pan, MS, Chief Nurse, Traditional Chinese Medicine Ward, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, No. 195 Wenhui Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou 310014, Zhejiang Province, China. ertongzhongyi@126.com
Received: September 14, 2023 Peer-review started: September 14, 2023 First decision: October 8, 2023 Revised: November 22, 2023 Accepted: December 19, 2023 Article in press: December 19, 2023 Published online: January 19, 2024
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Hospitalization is a part of many children's lives and has an impact on their gender development. In clinical practice, the random allocation of hospital rooms for children and the lack of privacy curtains during examinations overlook the important influence of individual gender factors on children, although these factors have an undeniable impact on children’s identity formation.
Research motivation
Currently, research on gender consciousness in China mainly focuses on adult women, with less attention given to children and even less to hospitalized children.
Research objectives
To investigate the current situation of gender identity in lower primary school children by conducting a survey.
Research methods
Based on a literature review, the researcher designed a general information survey form for the children, including gender, age, grade, whether they were only children, family structure, personality, and current home address. The gender consciousness scale for elementary and middle school students was used for the survey.
Research results
Lower grade school-age children have a low level of gender consciousness. Children aged 6 had the weakest gender identity, and girls had significantly stronger gender identity than boys.
Research conclusions
Gender consciousness issues require more attention during children’s hospitalization.
Research perspectives
This study proposes scientific and reasonable recommendations and strategies for hospitalization and provides timely interventions and guidance to help children shape a unified and clear gender orientation.
