Formalities

Publication sources: About two-thirds of the works were published in renowned journals, for example: Journal of the American Medical Association; Archives of General Psychiatry; Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases; American Journal of Psychotherapy; British Journal of Psychiatry; Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; Annual Review of Sex Research; Archives of Sexual Behavior; Journal of Sex Research; Nervenarzt. Chapters in books are the second largest group, with 15%. The other 19% consist of dissertations and proceedings of scientific conferences.

Under a time aspect, the works are divided relatively equally. Until 1970, a total of 19 follow-up studies with samples of five or more persons were published. Between 1971 and 1980 as well as between 1981 and 1990, another 32 were added (for each) and one work is from the year 1991.

Countries: By far, the most works -- exactly 37, or about half -- are from the United States (comp. overview in part 5). The number of the available work there is recessive. In comparison, all 13 works of the Federal Republic of Germany were published starting in 1980. In all other countries the numbers were smaller (Switzerland, 8; Denmark, 4; Sweden, 7; Great Britain, 5; Canada, 3, Australia, 3; Holland, 2; Norway, 1; Finland, 1; Singapore, 1), which could lead one to believe that less works really appeared or that we had little access to those works as well as foreign authors seem to have little access to German-language works. In the most recent review (Green & Fleming, 1990), which professes to give an overview of the time period of 1979 and 1989 there is, for example, not a single German work mentioned - while we found 13 such works for the same time period.

The institutions in which follow-up studies were conducted are mostly psychiatric university clinics. The second-largest group is formed by works that come from surgical sections of university clinics. In some cases they are joint works of psychiatrists and surgeons and/or endocrinologists. Some, but not really all, of these joint works search from specific treatment units such as gender identity clinics or programs. In rare cases the follow-up study was conducted at normal hospitals. Special cases are the works of Benjamin, Ihlenfeld & Pomeroy, in which patients were described from their specialized private practice. The follow-up studies made in private practice were for the Harry Benjamin Research Foundation, founded for this purpose.

The extent of the reference to previous follow-up studies is quite varied. Some authors do not consider previously published studies at all. To the contrary of this, some reviews, as well as some Swedish and Dutch works (for example, Wålinder & Thuwe, 1975; Lundström, 1981; Kuiper, 1985) contain ample literature overviews, partially by inclusion of single case studies. By far, the most frequently cited work -- specifically in almost every second work -- Benjamin's monograph of the year 1966 is cited. In about every fourth work, Randell's study is mentioned, published in the exemplary book Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, edited by Green & Money (1966). Quite frequently (in 10 to 20 studies) the following 18 follow-up studies and reviews are mentioned: Hertz et al. (1961); Benjamin (1964a); Pauly (1965; 1968); Hoenig et al. (1970a, b, 1971); Money & Ehrhardt (1970); Hastings (1974); Hore et al. (1975); Wålinder & Thuwe (1975); Stürup (1976); Hastings & Markland (1978); König et al. (1978); Meyer & Reter (1979); Hunt & Hampson (1980b); Sörensen (1981a, b). The important work by Walser (1968), of the Psychiatric University Polyclinic in Zurich, that reports about the early course, was almost not cited.