The recent surge in transgender identification is caused in part by peer influence, a growing body of evidence suggests, and some transgender advocates are acknowledging this issue.

Many activists argue that transgenderism has become more prevalent because growing social acceptance allows more transgender people, who would otherwise keep their gender identity a secret, to live openly. Critics of youth gender transitions, however, argue that the growing rate of transgender identification in adolescents, along with rapidly changing demographics of transgender people, are evidence that peer influence is driving young people to identify as transgender who otherwise wouldn’t.

Gender dysphoria, a deep sense of discomfort with one’s biological sex which may drive a person to become transgender, used to be observed primarily in males, according to Reuters. That trend has been fully reversed over the past 15 years; among adolescents seeking transgender medical interventions, biological females outnumber biological males by a factor of 2.5 to 7.1