There has been a long-standing debate as to whether nature or nurture affects homosexual tendencies. A recent study shows that homosexuality is unnatural and can be outgrown.

The study, recently published in The New Atlantis Journal, revealed that most young people who experience feelings of gender dysphoria, or what can be commonly termed as homosexual tendencies, said these feelings are only temporary.

The study, entitled "Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences," also showed that a non-heterosexual orientation is not as fixed as sometimes claimed, and can easily be outgrown, as indicated by the participants in the research.

"Only a minority of children who experience cross-gender identification will continue to do so into adolescence or adulthood," the study stated, as quoted by The Catholic News Agency.

In fact, as much as eight in every 10 male research participants said the same-sex attraction they felt as adolescents faded away as they grew into adulthood. Similar results were reported among the female participants, but were said to be "less striking."

The study was a kind of "meta-research," which reviewed various research studies to examine claims about sexuality and gender.

The study's authors, Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer, Ph.D. and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University, also argued against the popular belief that homosexuals are "born that way."

"While there is evidence that biological factors such as genes and hormones are associated with sexual behaviors and attractions, there are no compelling causal biological explanations for human sexual orientation," the researchers stated.

The same research also revealed that homosexuals risk adverse health and mental health outcomes, such as anxiety. There is, however, "limited, inconsistent and incomplete" data to conclude that this is due to discrimination.

"Just as it does a disservice to non-heterosexual subpopulations to ignore or downplay the statistically higher risks of negative mental health outcomes they face, so it does them a disservice to misattribute the causes of these elevated risks, or to ignore other potential factors that may be at work," the study stated.