This, as far as we know, is best achieved by providing a relationship between husband and wife exemplifying these respective roles. "In 1968, Green published "Childhood Cross-Gender Identification", a paper reviewing the therapy of nine AMAB children who were younger than 8 and "clearly prepubertal". The first six were from the collaborative papers between Green and Money, the last 3 were from Robert Stoller. Citing the failure of attempts to "cure" adult trans women, he reported early diagnosis and treatment may be effective in preventing manifestations of adulthood cross-gender identification. The stated goals of family therapy are for "for the husband and wife to gain some perspective on the second class citizen of the husband and of the significance of their unbalanced roles in shaping their sons personality. Additional focus is on the masculinity-inhibiting of mothers anxiety over her sons healthy aggression and her greater comfort with what to her is his less threatening behavior. "Another early researcher was George Alan Rekers, who later became an administrator at NARTH, who focused his 1972 doctoral research on the treatment of feminine boys. In this work, Rekers describes a litany of feminine behaviours which he catalogues including: feminine posture, gait, arm and hand gestures, feminine inflection in speech, as well as interest in feminine clothing, games and conversation topics.
The studies state that the majority of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria did not desire to be the other sex by puberty, with most growing up to identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, with or without therapeutic intervention.The prospective studies have been criticized  on the basis that they counted as desistance cases where the child was simply gender-nonconforming rather than dysphoric. While they met the criteria for gender identity disorder as defined in the DSM-III or DSM-IV, many would not have met the updated criteria for gender dysphoria in the DSM-5, established in 2013. In addition, prior to the DSM-III in 1980, there was no diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria, so research on desistance rates published prior to 2000 reported inflated numbers of desistance.Additionally, the evidence offered has been criticized for citing studies which have been labelled conversion therapy for discouraging social transition and trying to prevent a transgender outcome. The studies have been used to argue for more caution in socially or medically transitioning transgender youth; however, they have been criticized as irrelevant due to tracking diagnoses rather than tracking evolution of gender identity or desire to transition. In addition, Bonifacio et al. state that "there is research to suggest" that some desistance of GD "may be caused, in part, by an internalizing pressure to conform rather than a natural progression to non–gender variance. "According to a review published in 2022 considering more recent studies, the majority of pre-pubertal children who socially transition persist in their identity in 5 to 7 year follow ups.