LGBTQ+ Pride Month

Question:
What data do you have on the characteristics and well-being of sexual and gender minority people?

Response:

Inclusion of questions about sexual orientation and gender identity on federal surveys allows for a better understanding of sexual and gender minority (SGM) people relative to the general population. These questions generate data to inform the development of resources and interventions to better serve the SGM community. Giving respondents the opportunity to describe themselves and bring their “whole self” to a questionnaire also helps them to be more fully seen and heard by researchers and policymakers.

Sexual minorities are people whose sexual orientation is something other than straight or heterosexual. Gender minorities are people whose sex a recorded at birth is different from their gender.

Sometimes, we get asked why questions like this appear on an education survey. They can be sensitive questions for some people, after all. We ask these questions so we can better understand educational equity and outcomes for SGM people, just as we do for other demographic groups, such as those defined by race, ethnicity, household income, and region of the country. Just as is the case for other demographic groups, it is possible that SGM people have unique experiences as compared with students and educators from other demographic groups.

Over the past 10 years, NCES has researched how to best ask respondents about their sexual orientation and gender identity, how respondents react to these questions, and what the quality of the data is that NCES has collected in questionnaires and datasets that include sexual orientation and gender identity information.

At NCES, several studies include background questions for adults about their sexual orientation and gender identity, including the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) Second Follow-up in 2016, the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) 08/18 and 16/21 collections, the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) in 2020, the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) 20/22 and 20/25 collections, and the 2023–24 National Teacher and Principal Survey. In addition, the School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and sponsored by NCES, asks students ages 12–18 in grades 6–12 several questions related to sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.

Collectively, these several surveys enable NCES to describe the experiences of, and explore issues pertinent to, students who identify as sexual and gender minorities. For example:

• As of 2021, 2009 ninth-graders who were bisexual and questioning left postsecondary education without degrees or credentials at higher rates than other groups of students who were in ninth grade in 2009, and they earned bachelor�s or higher degrees at lower rates than other students.
• In 2020, some 9 percent of students who identified as genderqueer, gender nonconforming, or a different identity had difficulty finding safe and stable housing, which is three times the rate of students who identified as male or female (3 percent each).
• In 2018, about 10 years after completing a 2007–08 bachelor’s degree, graduates described their financial situations. Graduates who were gender minorities¹ were less likely to own a home (31 percent) or hold a retirement account (74 percent) than graduates who were not gender minorities (63 percent and 87 percent, respectively).
• Among 2008 bachelor�s degree graduates with a full-time job in 2018, those who were straight people reported higher average salaries than those who were either lesbian/gay or bisexual.
• In the 2017�18 school year, 18 percent of public schools had a recognized student group that promoted the acceptance of students� sexual orientation and gender identity, such as a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). This was an increase from the 2015–16 school year, in which 12 percent of schools reported having a GSA.
• Among all students ages 12–18 in grades 6–12 who reported being bullied (19 percent), the percentage who reported being bullied due to their sexual orientation more than doubled from 2017 (4 percent) to 2022 (9 percent). That change was primarily driven by female students, for whom the percentage tripled from 2017 to 2022 (from 4 to 13 percent), while the percentage of bullied males who reported being bullied for their sexual orientation was not statistically significantly different across the period (3 percent in 2017 and 4 percent in 2022).

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Among students ages 12–18 enrolled in grades 6–12 who reported being bullied, percentage who reported that they thought the bullying was related to their sexual orientation: 2017, 2019, and 2022

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¹ On the NCES surveys mentioned above, gender identity categories include male; female; transgender, male-to-female; transgender, female-to-male; genderqueer or gender nonconforming; a different gender identity; and more than one gender identity.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Celebrate LTBGQ+ Pride Month With NCES. NCES Blog. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 31, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/celebrate-lgbtq-pride-month-with-nces.

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2024, Student Reports of Bullying from 2022 SCS, Table 2.9. Bullying relation to personal characteristics by student characteristics: School year 2021�22
  
• 2022, Student Reports of Bullying from 2019 SCS, Table 2.9. Perceived relationship of bullying to personal characteristics grouped by student characteristics: School year 2018�19
  
• 2021, 2019�20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20) First Look, Table A-2. Housing impacts of COVID-19, by type of disruption or change and selected institution and student characteristics in spring 2020
  
• 2021, Baccalaureate & Beyond (B&B:08/18) First Look, Table A-5. Current job hours and salary, by occupation, enrollment, and demographic characteristics in 2018
  
• 2021, Baccalaureate & Beyond (B&B:08/18) First Look, Table A-1. Financial Well-being: by enrollment, employment, and demographic characteristics in 2018
  
• 2020, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) 2016, Table 37. Percentage of public schools reporting the presence of recognized student acceptance groups, by purpose of student group and selected school characteristics: School year 2015�16
  
• 2019, Student Reports of Bullying from 2017 SCS, Table 2.9. Number and percentage distribution of students ages 12 through 18 who reported being bullied at school, by perceived relationship of bullying to personal characteristics and selected student characteristics: School year 2016–17
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2024, Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B): B&B examines students� education and work experiences after they complete a bachelor�s degree.
  
• 2024, Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology: Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Research Group
  
• 2024, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS): NPSAS examines the characteristics of students in postsecondary education, with special focus on how they finance their education.
  
• 2024, School Crime Supplement (SCS): This survey collects data on students ages 12 to 18 years old in grades 6 through 12 about crime and safety at school and in the surrounding neighborhood.
  
• 2024, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS): This survey collects information on crime and safety from U.S. public school principals.
  
• 2022, Assessing Open-Ended Self-Reports of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Is There Room For Improvement?
  
• 2022, How do you Describe Yourself in the Workplace? Asking Teachers about their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in a School Survey