One in 20 high school students is transgender or gender-confused, according to CDC statistics
Nearly one in 20 American high school students are trans or confused about their gender, according to a first official report of its kind.
The CDC survey, which interviewed 20,000 children ages 14 to 18, found that 3.3 percent of children said they identified as transgender, while another 2.2 percent said they were unsure of their gender.
The report, based on 2023 data, also found much higher rates of feelings of sadness and bullying among transgender or gender-questioning teens than boys or girls.
The finding is much higher than the previous figure, which estimated that 1.4 percent of teens in the US were transgender.
Nearly one in twenty American high school students is trans or confused about their gender (stock image)
The CDC released this chart alongside their report
Similar data in Britain suggests that the prevalence of transgender is highest among 16 to 17 year olds, with around one in 600 people identifying as such. in 2018.
The new estimates were based on the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which surveys a representative sample of high school students nationwide every two years.
The 2023 survey was the first time teens were asked whether they identified as transgender.
Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s adolescent and school health division, described the study’s results as “heartbreaking.”
‘We have five per cent of young people in the country who, because of the way they identify around their gender, are stigmatised, bullied, feel unsafe, feel disconnected at school and therefore have poorer mental health and are at greater risk more likely to commit suicide than their parents. cisgender peers.’ she said.
The results also showed that about 70 percent of transgender students reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, compared to 50 percent of girls and 26 percent of boys.
And only 37 percent of transgender students said they were likely to feel close to others at school, compared to 62 percent of boys and half of girls.
The above shows that transgender children or children who question their gender identity were more likely to experience harm than others
The children were also asked about suicides, with one in four transgender children saying they had attempted suicide in the past year, compared to 11 percent of girls and five percent of boys.
Ten percent of transgender children report having received medical treatment from a doctor or nurse for a suicide attempt in the past year, compared to 2.6 percent for girls and one percent for boys.
The investigation came at a time of heightened political tension around the topic and a slew of bans on procedures for minors in Republican states.
More than 25 states have already banned some procedures for minors, while others have made it emphatically clear that the procedures will never be banned for people under the age of 18.
A 2022 report from the Williams Institute in Los Angeles estimated that 1.4 percent of children were transgender based on data collected from 15 states in 2017 and 2019.
Researchers at the institute said the new figures appeared to echo trends recorded at their own institute, with more and more young people identifying as transgender over time.
