Christopher (Kitt) Carpenter, Vanderbilt University, E. Bronson Ingram Distinguished Professor, Economics and Health Policy
Title: Patient Identity and Support for Medical Care: Evidence from List Experiments on Puberty Blockers
Abstract: We study whether people support the same medical treatment differently depending on who receives it and why they receive it. Using double list experiments in the United States and the United Kingdom, we measure views about puberty blockers for: 1) kids with precocious puberty; 2) transgender kids with precocious puberty; and 3) transgender kids with gender dysphoria. Support is lower when kids with the same condition — precocious puberty — are transgender. There is no difference in support across very different medical conditions for transgender kids. Public opinion thus reflects judgments about identities more than medical diagnoses. We also find significant social desirability bias.
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