More data supports the sharp decline in the number of young people who identify as transgender or non-binary.
Last week, FOX News Digital reported. Data shared by Eric KaufmanA political science professor at the University of Buckingham has shown that the proportion of university students who identify as something other than male or female has halved in just two years.
Now, San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge has identified additional data that appears to support these findings more broadly.
Transgender ‘trend’ plummets on US college campuses, new analysis reveals
First, Twenge analyzed data from the nationally representative Household Pulse Survey, which directly asked people about their transgender identity. generation tech.
“While the Household Pulse data showed a decline in trans ID among 18- to 22-year-olds in 2024, we were cautious about drawing conclusions from it because the decline only appeared in a limited period (July to September 2024), and two of the three survey administrations added an option for non-binary identification that did not previously exist,” she wrote. “Maybe that’s why identifying as transgender has declined.”
Next is the professor. author of the book “Generations: The real differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation” – another nationally representative study.
The Cooperative Election Study (CES), a non-probability-based survey conducted each fall by YouGov and administered by Tufts University, asked all U.S. adults about their transgender identity from 2021 to 2024. It also included another question regarding self-identification as non-binary.
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In 2021, 2022, and 2024, CES asked, “Do you identify as transgender?” The options are “Yes”, “No”, and “It’s better not to say it”.
Responses of “prefer not to say” were treated as missing data, Twenge told Fox News Digital.
Starting in 2021, the sex/gender question at CES will be “What is your gender?” You can choose from “Male”, “Female”, “Non-binary”, and “Other”.
Among 18- to 22-year-olds, self-identification as transgender decreased by almost half from 2022 to 2024, and non-binary self-identification decreased by more than half from 2023 to 2024.
“The study looked at adults of all ages and found… identify as transgender Those born before 1980 (Gen
“Since then, the number of people identifying as transgender has declined, especially among those born in 2005 and 2006 (currently 18 to 20 years old).”
There are several theories as to why this happens.
“One possibility is a change in acceptance. As acceptance increases, more young people identify as transgender or demonstrate a willingness to identify as transgender in surveys,” Twenge said. “when acceptance refusedidentifying as transgender (or at least identifying as transgender in surveys) has decreased. ”
In a previous analysis looking at data from another study, Twenge found that the increase in people identifying as transgender from 2014 to 2023 did not extend to people over 45 (Gen X and boomers).
“The change is therefore less likely to be due to acceptance and should affect people of all ages,” she says. “However, there may have been a further increase in acceptance among young people from 2014 to 2023, and a further decline in 2024.”
Twenge emphasized that identifying as transgender and identifying as non-binary are two different things.
“One of the reasons I did this analysis is because the survey that Professor Kaufman relied on did not ask about identifying as transgender, but rather about identifying as nonbinary or identifying as something other than male or female,” she noted. “We wanted to know if people are identifying as transgender and are decreasing.”
She added: “I also thought it was important to look at the national situation.” representative sample It’s not just students from elite schools. ”
Kaufman praised Twenge’s new report, calling her “the best in the industry.”
“It’s good to see researchers from the mainstream academic generation doing follow-up research,” he told Fox News Digital. “Her data greatly reinforces what I found using data from FIRE, Brown, and Andover Phillips.”
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“I don’t think the current question is that if “Transgender is in decline,” he added, “but how far will it decline, and what impact will it have on culturally progressive projects and transgender trends? gender surgery And diagnosis. ”
Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist in New York City, said the change likely represents a “natural correction.”
“For some time now, we’ve been teaching young people to magnify every emotion. Our therapeutic culture has taught them that every discomfort needs a label and a diagnosis,” Alpert, who was not involved in the cited study, previously told FOX News Digital. “For some people, that label has become ‘non-binary,’ which does not identify their gender.”
Rather than deny who they are, Alpert said: young people You may just be tired of feeling pressured to define every emotion and difference with a new identity.
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“So, at least as this study showed, there is essentially a performance degradation,” he says. “A few years ago, identity was treated almost like a social badge. Perhaps now young people are realizing that they don’t have to announce or label everything about themselves to be valid.”
Alpert said he sees this same pattern in himself. therapy practice.
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“Once people become more comfortable; [with] Once you understand who you are, you no longer need to define yourself so precisely. To me, it’s a sign of growing confidence, not intolerance. ”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Tufts University and the U.S. Census Bureau for comment.
