ArticleBrain and behavior2026
Sex versus Gender Role Endorsement Associations With White Matter Microstructure in South African Adults: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study.
Article in Brain and behavior, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBrain structure in transgender individuals is often shifted away from their natal sex toward their preferred gender identity. However, little is known about the relationship between gender identity and white matter microstructure in the general population.
methodsWe investigated the associations of biological sex versus gender role endorsement with white matter microstructure in healthy South African adults (n = 88; 46 males, 42 females) meticulously screened for mental illness, medical comorbidities, intracranial pathologies, significant head trauma, and substance use. Gender role endorsement was assessed as a dimensional measure across a continuum using the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to calculate fractional anisotropy (FA) for selected fronto-limbic white matter tracts of interest.
resultsWe observed a significant interaction effect between biological sex and gender role endorsement across multiple white matter tracts, including the trunk of the corpus callosum, left corticospinal tract, left superior longitudinal fasciculus, right cingulum bundle, right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and left uncinate fasciculus. Post-hoc tests revealed that higher feminine gender role endorsement was associated with lower FA in these tracts among males, but not females.
conclusionsGender nonconformity in males is linked to a "sex-reversed" pattern of white matter microstructure in healthy adults recruited from a general population setting. Future longitudinal studies are needed to investigate how sex, gender identity, genetics, sex hormones, and environmental exposures interact to shape white matter development across the lifespan.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.