About one in 30 high schoolers identifies as transgender, according to the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
What does it mean to be transgender?
Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s glossary, “transgender” is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth. People whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth are called “cisgender.”
What percentage of US high schoolers are trans?
When given a description of what it means to be trans, 3.3% of high schoolers reported that it applied to them. Of the other students, 93.3% of reported not identifying as trans, 2.2% weren’t sure, and 1.3% didn’t understand the question.
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What do we know about trans high schoolers’ lives?
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that trans teens face some mental and physical health challenges at higher rates than their cis classmates.
In 2023, more than half of trans high schoolers reported having seriously considered suicide. Over a quarter had made an attempt. The figures for both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts are at least three times the rate of cis high schoolers.
Trans students were more than twice as likely to have been bullied at school (42.6% vs. 17.3%) or online (33.8% vs. 14.5%). And more than a quarter reported experiencing sexual violence.
They were also more likely to smoke cigarettes and use marijuana, to drink and drive, and to have experimented with recreational prescription drug use and hallucinogens.
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