CDC study finds 3% of all U.S. high school students identify as transgender

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 10, 2024 / 13:50 pm

A first-of-its-kind study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that 3.3% of all U.S. high schoolers identify as transgender.

The study, taken in 2023 and published by the CDC this month, also suggests that an additional 2.2% of high schoolers are “questioning” their gender identity, meaning that 5.5% of all U.S. high schoolers consider themselves transgender or are questioning their sex.  

If accurate, the study means that of the nearly 17 million estimated high schoolers in the U.S., more than 550,000 identify as the opposite sex that they were born as, while over 370,000 are questioning their sex.

While the CDC claims the study indicates a need for “gender-affirming care” and greater social acceptance of transgenderism, an expert told CNA that the promotion of gender ideology in schools has already contributed to what has become a “social contagion.” 

‘Social contagion’ and gender ideology

Mary Rice Hasson, an attorney and policy expert who directs the Catholic Person and Identity Project, which is devoted to promoting Catholic teaching on sex and gender, told CNA that the dramatic rise in transgender-identifying youth is “unprecedented.”

Hasson believes the study may undercount the true number of trans-identifying youth in the U.S. She said that “social contagion,” correlated with the widespread use of smartphones and social media, plays a major factor in the rise of transgenderism among youth.

In addition to this, she said public schools in the U.S. are already aggressively promoting gender ideology to children, “telling them that they have the power to self-define their own identity, regardless of sex (male or female) and that if they don’t feel comfortable in their bodies that it’s a ‘sign’ that they are ‘transgender’ and should change their bodies.”

Suicide rates soaring among trans-identifying youth

The study draws on data gathered by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which collected information from a nationally representative group of 20,103 high school students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. YRBS has been gathering data since 1991.

The 2023 YRBS study presents the first nationally representative estimate of transgender identity among high school students.

According to the study, high school students who identify as transgender also suffer from the highest level of feelings of isolation and poor mental health. The study said that nearly 3 out of 4 — 72% — of those identifying as transgender suffer from persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.

Meanwhile, 1 out of 4 — 26% — of transgender-identifying and questioning high schoolers have attempted suicide within the past year. This is significantly higher than the 5% of boys and 11% of girls who have attempted suicide within the past year.

According to the study, over half — 52.9% — of transgender-identifying students have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year; this is over double the level of suicidal ideation among girls — 24% — and over four times higher than that of boys — 12.1%.

The study also said that 40% of transgender-identifying students have been bullied at school and 26.4% have skipped school due to feeling unsafe.

Based on this data the CDC concluded that “when schools implement LGBTQ+ supportive policies and practices, all students experience better mental health.”

The researchers behind the study claimed that their findings demonstrate “the need for interventions to create safe and supportive environments for transgender and questioning students.”

“Having supportive families and peers, feeling connected to family and school, having affirmed name and pronouns used consistently by others, and having a sense of pride of identity are protective factors for transgender students that buffer the effects of minority stressors and promote better mental health,” the researchers said.

Skepticism about CDC’s conclusions

Hasson pointed out several problems with the CDC’s conclusion that affirming transgender identity is the solution to the high suicide rate among transgender students.

She said the researchers left out several important questions about youth’s mental health background, ignoring many factors that are important to understanding the true causes of depression and suicide among transgender-identifying youth.

“The YRBS did not cross-reference transgender identification with other important questions, such as the new questions on ‘adverse childhood experiences’ or experiences of forced sex or early sex,” she said. “Other research demonstrates that trans-identified youth suffer high rates of mental health issues that explain their suicidality.”

Instead, Hasson said the study “showed its ideological bias” and “obscured likely reasons why trans-identified students reported greater suicidality and more depression than other students.”

“Although the YRBS is a snapshot in time — it does not show causality — the YRBS report speculated that trans-identified students reported poor mental health because of stigma and feeling ‘unsafe’ at school — and suggested this requires greater efforts by schools to be inclusive,” she said.

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What is the Catholic response?

The Catholic Church teaches that there are innate physical, moral, and spiritual differences and complementarity between the sexes male and female.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the “harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out” (No. 1603).

“By creating the human being man and woman,” the catechism teaches, “God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity” (No. 2393).

Hasson said the study showing the widespread prevalence of transgenderism among the nation’s youth is “a reminder that transgender ideology is a dangerous, evil lie — and too many children have begun to believe it, reinforced by activist teachers, ideologically-driven clinicians, and confused parents.”

In response, she said, “Catholics need to be bold and share the truth about the human person — we are created male or female. And that’s God’s gift to us, something to receive and celebrate, not reject.”