trans identity trends among young people It seems to be losing momentum.
Recent data source university campus Over the past three years, we’ve seen a sharp decline in the number of Gen Zers who identify as transgender.
Eric Kaufman, a political science professor at the University of Buckingham, conducted an independent analysis of a large-scale survey of American undergraduates. The survey also included questions identifying gender.
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Anything that is neither male nor female is considered “gender nonconforming,” the research group shared with Fox News Digital.
Possible answers are listed below.
In a 2025 survey of 68,000 students, only 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female.
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“By comparison, this number was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023,” Kaufman said in the analysis. UnHerd.com.
“In other words, the proportion of students who identify as transgender has been effectively cut in half in just two years.”
Kaufman said the report also found a sharp decline in “nonconforming sexual identities.” People who identify as gay or lesbian remain “stable,” while straight people have increased by 10 points since 2023.
Furthermore, in 2024-2025, fewer first-year college students identified as “transgender or queer” than fourth-year students, the opposite of what happened in 2022-2023.
“This suggests that gender/sexual nonconformity will continue to decline in the future,” Kaufman wrote in an X post sharing the data.
This annual survey, College Free Speech Rankings, is conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The purpose is to collect students’ opinions on free speech, along with demographic information such as gender.
kaufman did his analysis FIRE confirmed to Fox News Digital that it uses six years of demographic data from the survey.
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His independent report, “The Decline of Transgender and Queer Identity Among Young Americans,” was published by the Center for Disparate Social Science but has not been peer-reviewed.
“Our survey examines student attitudes toward freedom of expression and is being conducted for that purpose,” FIRE told FOX News Digital. “A side effect of asking demographic questions to so many respondents is that you can glean demographic trends, as Professor Kaufman has done here.”
Kaufman said he believes: Improving mental health Possibly involved in the shift.
“Students with less anxiety and especially depression are associated with lower rates of identifying as transgender, queer, or bisexual,” he wrote.
The decline could also signal the end of the trend, Kaufman added.
“The decline of transgender and queer people seems most similar to the decline of fashion and trends,” he wrote. “It occurs almost independently of changes in political beliefs; Use of social mediaThat said, improved mental health played a role. ”
FOX News Senior Medical Analyst Dr. Mark Siegel said the study was “very interesting” but did not determine the cause of the decline.
“There are more questions than answers,” the doctor, who was not involved in the investigation, told Fox News Digital. “Is the change due to change?” cultural climate?Less political pressure from parents and society? Is it because of the idea that gender dysphoria often resolves? ”
Siegel also thought that attempts to “normalize” these choices and “overcome the stigma” may have been an overreaction in some cases, although that trend has now eased.
“Or is prejudice reinvigorated and students becoming reluctant to declare themselves non-binary?” he asked. “This needs further study.”
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Dr. Jonathan Alpert, a New York City psychotherapist, said the changes likely represent a “natural correction.”
“We’ve been teaching young people for some time to stretch every emotion. We’ve been taught in a therapeutic culture that every discomfort needs a label or a diagnosis,” Alpert, who also did not participate in the analysis or study, told Fox News Digital. “For some people, that label has become ‘non-binary,’ which does not identify their gender.”
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These results don’t necessarily mean fewer people are identifying as transgender, Alpert said, “but primarily that fewer people are identifying as non-binary, which is something entirely different.”
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.
“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.”
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Alpert said he sees this same pattern in himself. therapy practice.
“When people become more comfortable with who they are, they don’t need to define themselves so rigidly. To me, that’s not an intolerance, it’s a sign of growing confidence.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Kaufman for additional comment.
