- Many youth experienced that they had to continuously clarify their sexual identity alongside gender exploration, perhaps because gender and sexuality are so interlinked in contemporary society. 
- Some youth experienced that sexuality shifted after they had started to explore and develop a gender minority identity. 

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- Subjective experiences of gender dysphoria were linked to sexuality for some youth 
because the increasing sexual exploration associated with adolescence and young adulthood created a confusing intersection between gender and sexuality. 
- Forming sexual relations with other people could both bring gender to the surface and alleviate subjective experiences of gender dysphoria. 

Theme: The Role of Sexuality and Sexual Impulses

Jessen, R. S., Haraldsen, I., & Stänicke, E. (2021). Navigating in the dark: Meta-synthesis of subjective experiences of gender dysphoria amongst transgender and gender non-conforming youth. Social Science & Medicine, 281, 114094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114094

Navigating in the Dark: Meta-Synthesis of Subjective Experiences of Gender Dysphoria Amongst Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth

- The growing sexual attraction informed the development of gender identity for some youth because the direction of the desire constituted for some an important part of the gender identity. 
- For some, whether the desire was experienced as homosexual or heterosexual helped clarify gender identity. 
- Sexuality did also bring gender to the surface for some youth assigned female
at birth because they discovered that they started to occupy a masculine role when they began to form sexual and romantic relations in adolescence. 

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