Stable and Shifting Sexualities among American High School Students, 2015 to 2021

Abstract

In a context of widespread attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth, statistics on rising LGBTQ+ identification need to be addressed with precision and care. In this visualization, the author presents nationally representative sexuality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Using stacked horizontal bar graphs, the author summarizes American high school students’ reported sexual identities and same-sex sexual contacts from 2015 to 2021. In contrast to sensationalistic reporting claiming that these data show “explosive” and “skyrocketing” growth, this visualization illustrates that most measures of American adolescent sexuality have been fairly stable. Since 2015, the only substantial changes that have occurred are in female students’ reports of being bisexual or “not sure.” These changes in sexual identity have been accompanied only by very modest changes in female students’ same-sex sexual contacts. Among male students, sexual identities and contacts have been almost entirely stable since 2015.