Three percent of high schooler identify as transgender and two percent are questioning their gender identity, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The study also found that many of these students face higher rates of bullying and mental health problems such as persistent sadness, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, The New York Times reported.  

“Because of the way [transgender students] identify around their gender, [they] are stigmatized, bullied, made to feel unsafe, feel disconnected at school and consequently have poorer mental health and [a] higher risk for suicide than their cisgender peers,” said Kathleen Ethier, the Director of CDC’s Adolescent and School Health Division, told The New York Times. “That’s just heartbreaking.”

The study by the CDC is the first of its kind, and shows that many more teenagers identify as transgender as previously thought, The New York Times said.