NEW YORK, NY – Roughly 35 percent of transgender high school students attempted to kill themselves in a 12-month period, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Just over one-third of transgender high schoolers — 34.6 percent — said they attempted suicide in a one-year span, according to the Friday report. Transgender students were also more likely to use drugs and engage in risky sexual behavior than their cisgender peers.
Transgender high schoolers were more likely to have had sex before they reached 13 years old. They also were more likely to report having four or more sexual partners. Using drugs and alcohol before engaging in sexual activity were also activities transgender high schoolers engaged in more frequently than their peers.
Transgender high school students are less likely to use protection as well.
Survey responses from 131,901 students in 10 states and nine different large urban school districts were used to form the CDC’s report. Data was collected in 2017 and then assessed.
Across states and school districts, 1.8 percent of high school students identified as transgender.
“This study is the first time this question [suicide attempts] was asked,” Caitlin Clark, a research associate at GLSEN, told NBC News.
The group conducts original research on LGBTQ issues in K-12 education, according to its Twitter.
“In order to make policy changes, we need to have hard numbers to point to,” Clark said.
A Swedish study says transgender individuals undergoing gender affirmation surgery suffer suicide rates 19 times that of their peers.
Being transgender was formerly considered a mental health disorder until the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2018 took gender dysphoria off the list of disorders to be published in its upcoming report.
Twitter, in November 2018, banned misgendering transgender persons.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump can temporarily enforce restrictions banning transgender persons from serving in the military.
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