Gender Identity Conflict in Young Boys Following Divorce

Three boys between the ages of four and seven were expressing the wish to be feminine and were dressing in women's clothes following a difficult divorce with custody and visitation strife. In brief psychotherapy gender seemed related to issues of loss and aggression. On followup, all 3 were symptomatically improved. The author suggests that gender disturbance symptom in boys, in addition to being a developmental failure, may come about as a regressive reaction to parental discord in divorce.