About 3% of U.S. high school students identify as trans, according to the first-ever federal effort to collect data on trans youth.
According to the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, another 2% of students doubt their gender identity.
It also revealed that trans and gender questioning youths are often bullied, more often than not they experience sadness and more so if they ever think of suicide compared to their cisgender counterparts.
For example, 38% of the students who are identified as transexual students are bullied, twice as much as those literature note that the rates of bullying among Cis-students.
“We know the young people, 5% of young people in the country, who because of how they situate themselves around gender, are marginalized, harassed, feel unsafe at school and as a result, experience poorer mental health and higher suicidal risk status than their cisgender counterparts,” Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s adolescent and school health division, said to the New York times.
“That’s just heartbreaking.”
And while the annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey began asking this year’s respondents if they are transgender or gender questioning, it did so for the first time in the 2023 poll.
The survey conducted with 20,103 students in the 9-12 grades in both public and private schools across the 50 states in the united states of America plus the District of Columbia.
Some 40% of trans and gender questioning students said they had been bullied, while only 20% of the cisgender girls and 15 of the cisgender boys confirmed the same, according to a survey.
Transgender students also were much more likely to report: Suicidal ideation or attempts, escalating from 72% to 50% of cisgender girls and from 26% of cisgender boys Mental health issues, 65% as against to 38% of Cis girls & 18% Cis boys Suicide attempters, 53% cisgender girls and 24%, cisgender boys and 12%.
Attempts in suicide, 26% of them, compared with 11 percent of cisgender girls and 5% of cisgender boys.
Transgender students also expressed the extremity of the feeling of loneliness.
Trans teenagers reported being closer to people at school with 36% reporting so, while 46% gender questioning teenagers also reported the same while 51% of sexually female born women and 62% sexually male born men reported the same.
It also must state that trans teens are banned from having stable housing; 11 percent against 1 to 2 percent of cis Boys or girls.
The structural and interpersonal discrimination such as, family rejection creates a vulnerability for the above said population to possibly experience housing insecurity, the researchers said adding that the findings were published on October 10 in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
However, although this population of students might be in foster, shelter or other treatment by social service providers, this group is less likely to find shelter when experiencing unstable housing leading to vulnerable experiences of violence, poor mental health and suicidality.
The CDC report urged educators to support trans and gender-questioning teenagers – and all teenagers – by providing support to troubled students.
This study further pointed out that schools are in a special position to develop protective environments, for students; excluding violence and bullying, for all students, including trans genders and questioning students.
For instance, school connectedness and activities towards safe and supportive contexts were negatively related to violence, poor mental health and suicidal behaviors among high school students as the report highlighted. The kind of activities that involved the LGBTQ+ student were benchmarks for discordant other experiences among all students irrespective of their sexual orientation.
Reference
Nancy D. Brener et al, Overview and Methods for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System — United States, 2023, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2024).
