A survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identify themselves as transgender.
Another 2.2% said they are questioning their gender identity.
Nearly two-thirds of these students are female. Many of the students claiming a trans identity were also white.
The survey, taken in 2023 and released earlier this week, relied upon the responses of more than 20,000 students from both private and public schools and “presents the first nationally representative prevalence estimates of transgender identity and questioning transgender identity among U.S. high school students.”
“Transgender and questioning students experienced a higher prevalence of violence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and unstable housing, and a lower prevalence of school connectedness than their cisgender peers,” the survey explains.
More than a quarter (26%) of transgender and questioning students attempted suicide in the past year, while more than two-thirds of these students experienced “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, a marker for experiencing depressive symptoms.”
The survey recommends that schools “create safer and more supportive environments for transgender and questioning students,” noting that “more effort is necessary to ensure that the health and well-being of youths who are socially marginalized is prioritized.”
The CDC’s survey does not provide information as to how many of the transgender or questioning students are undergoing treatment for gender dysphoria or are receiving “gender-affirming care.”
While 3.3% of U.S. high school students consider themselves to be transgender, more than 20% of all Gen Z Americans identify as LGBTQ.
The data from Gallup indicated that younger generations are almost “twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+.” In 2023, more than 1 in 5 Gen Z adults identified as LGBTQ, compared to 1 in 10 millennials.
