Study says nearly 3 percent of high school students identify as transgender or 'gender-nonconforming'

A new study of high school students found just under three percent identify as transgender or gender nonconforming. Those students also reported being in poorer health than their peers.

Published on Monday in Pediatrics, the study analyzed data from the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey, which was conducted among 81,000 ninth and eleventh-grade public school students throughout the state. Eighty-five percent of Minnesota's school districts participated.

Researchers found 2,168 (2.7 percent) of those students identified as transgender or gender nonconforming, compared with 78,761 who did not. This was assessed based on their answers to the question, "Do you consider yourself transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, or unsure about your gender identity?"

Nearly sixty percent of the students who considered themselves transgender or gender nonconforming reported having long-term mental health problems. Sixty-two percent said their health was poor, fair, or good, rather than very good or excellent, compared with 33 percent of their peers who said the same. On the flip side, 67 percent of students who did not identify as transgender or gender nonconforming said their health was very good or excellent, compared with only 38 percent of transgender or gender nonconforming students.

A UCLA survey published last year estimated that 0.7 percent of children aged 13 to 17 identified as transgender, leading some media outlets to hold the new research up as evidence the rate is higher than previously believed. It's important to note the study published Monday, however, included students who identified both as transgender and "gender nonconforming" in its three percent figure — and the "gender-nonconforming" category was comprised of students who broadly identified as genderqueer, genderfluid, or unsure about their gender identity. Respondents in the UCLA survey were asked whether they considered themselves gender nonconforming only after they said they identified as transgender.

Though varying definitions will continue to make these rates difficult to track, the three percent figure is worthy of attention from educators and parents, as are the apparent disparities in self-reported health conditions.