More teens identifying as gay, bisexual
More teens in the United States are reporting their sexual identity as gay, lesbian or bisexual, nationwide surveys show, reports Health Day.
Between 2015 and 2019, the percentage of 15- to 17-year-olds who said they identified as “non-heterosexual” rose from 8.3% to 11.7%, according to nationwide surveys by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Although our analyses demonstrated that there has been a significant increase in the proportion of girls and boys that self-identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual, we cannot be certain if this represents a true increase of this magnitude, or if it reflects at least in part, greater comfort by teens with acknowledging a non-heterosexual identity on an anonymous questionnaire,” said Dr. Andrew Adesman, who led an analysis of the findings.
In addition to the overall increase, the percentage of boys who identified as non-heterosexual rose from 4.5% to 5.7%. For girls, the increase was greater—from 12.2% to 17.8%, the findings showed.
