Littman conducted her study by posting a 90-question survey on three websites where parents had reported rapid onsets of gender dysphoria in their children. The responses were recorded anonymously and 256 parent-completed surveys met the study’s standards. In nearly 40 percent of the friendship groups described, the majority of the members became “transgender-identified.”

Over 60 percent of the transgender adolescents had been diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder or neurodevelopmental disability prior to the onset of their gender dysphoria, according to the study’s results.

After the study was published Aug. 16, the university received feedback from the transgender community about the research and its intentions.

“Community members express[ed] concerns that the conclusions of the study could be used to discredit efforts to support transgender youth and invalidate the perspectives of members of the transgender community,” Brown University School of Public Health Dean Bess H. Marcus said, according to The Telegraph. Marcus also said university members had complained.

Littman refers to “social and peer contagion” in the study, defining the phrase as “cluster outbreaks of gender dysphoria occurring in pre-existing groups of friends and increased exposure to social media/internet preceding a child’s announcement of a transgender identity raises the possibility of social and peer contagion.”

Peer contagion has also been shown to play a role in other body dysmorphic illnesses like eating disorders, Littman notes. (RELATED: How Transgender ‘Revolution’ Is Sweeping Through Hollywood)