STUDY: Trans Kids Thrive With Supportive Families

The transgender kids are all right.

Or at least, a new study shows they will be with love from their families.

Researchers at the University of Washington have concluded that trans children with family support have the same levels of depression and anxiety as their cisgender peers.

Kristina Olson, the head of the university's TransYouth Project, was surprised by the study's findings, which were published Friday in the medical journal Pediatrics.

"I didn't expect them to be doing quite this well," Olson told The Seattle Times.

The study observed 73 transgender children (ages 3 to 12) from the United States and Canada who were living as their authentic gender and had supportive families. It found no differences in rates of depression between these kids and a control group of cisgender peers and siblings.

This first-of-its-kind study may be instrumental in helping a demographic that, according to LGBT groups like the Trevor Project, has higher risks of suicide. Nearly half of transgender young people have considered taking their own lives.

It also supports what many activists and doctors have long preached, "which is that kids who are supported in their authentic gender do very well," said said Dr. Johanna Olson of Children's Hospital Los Angeles.